Greetings from the Global Knowledge Partnership.
We would like to inform you that the Forum on ICTs and Gender: Optimizing
Opportunities is now scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 20th to 23rd
August at the JW Mariott Hotel in Bukit Bintang.
In line with the GKP's focus on gender issues as a key area of advocacy,the
Partnership is planning a Forum on ICTs & Gender: Optimizing Opportunities
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 20 -23 August 2003.
The GKP is co-organizing this event in partnership with the
· International Telecommunications Union (ITU),
· Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and
· Government of Malaysia, represented by the Ministry of Energy,
Communications and Multimedia (MECM) ; the Ministry of Women and
Family Development and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC)
· International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
· Alliance for Public Technology (APT),
· Asian Pacific Women's Information Network Center (APWIN),
· United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia & the
Pacific (UNESCAP)
· United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Supporting organisations include the:
. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
. Information for Development Programme (InfoDev), World Bank
. Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
The objectives of the conference are to:
· Identify ways in which women in developing countries can gain
increased access to and take maximum advantage of information
and communication technologies (ICTs)
· Raise awareness of gender-related barriers to ICT access.
· Examine and produce recommendations on gender aspects in ICT in
areas such as health and education,confidence and security
in the use of ICTs, SMEs/Entrepreneurship, rural and disadvantaged groups
Expected outcomes
· The engendering of ICT projects and programmes to help women
bridge the digital divide.
· The identification of best practices, success stories and
lessons learned
· An issues paper for the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS)
We are encouraging those who have shown interest in attending the Forum as a
participant to register yourself at our website. Please visit:
www.globalknowledge.org/gender2003/. Then proceed to the application form
and use the Token ID: PP. Do e-mail your CV as well to
gender@gkpsecretariat.org.my indicate clearly your
area(s) of expertise and your reasons for wanting to attend the Forum. Some
scholarship funding will be available for participants from developing
countries, subject to receipt and approval of official scholarship
application. Closing date for all registrations is 10th July 2003.
Those who have already been officially invited as a presenter/panelist, you
will be advised on what to do accordingly by the various track facilitators.
Although attendance at this event is primarily by invitation-only, there
will be a limited number of spots available for self-sponsored applicants.
All expressions of interest will be reviewed and approved by the Forum
Organizers.
GKP Secretariat