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Learn how to tackle the gender digital divide with this online course
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USAID Digital Inclusion and mSTAR worked with Panoply Digital to create an online course for USAID staff, implementing partners and other development practitioners on the gender digital divide.
The 60-minute online course follows two women, Rasheda from Bangladesh and Mary from the Democratic Republic of Congo, presenting gender and ICT issues from their eyes using a persona-driven learning approach.
There are four modules, focusing on economic and social opportunities that ICTs can bring, the current state of the digital gender gap, the reasons behind the gender gap and the barriers that women face, and practical steps that practitioners can take to address these barriers.
The course is free to access, and can be found here.
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“I Am Science”: video-sharing app promotes girls’ STEM education in South Africa
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Three Gauteng schools are taking mobile learning forward with the power of video, YouTube, and the support of GIZ and the Goethe Institut. By promoting interesting and safe science-related activities that girls can do in their own homes, the idea is to make the videos viral in nature so that they are shared with others.
Girls who view videos on the app and answer accompanying quiz questions correctly can earn free airtime and data. All content is published on a local app called Levelup and is part of the #eskills4girls initiative.
View a sample video here and learn more about the initiative here.
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Girl Effect explores the intersection of gender and mobile in the US
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Too often mobile learning interventions designed to support girls living with socioeconomic deprivation are implemented in the “Global South”. But, as we have frequently argued in this newsletter, poverty is experienced even in so-called wealthy countries like the United States.
Case in point: Girl Effect is working in Saginaw, Michigan to train up “Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors,” or TEGA, who are skilled to conduct research with mobile phones. The aim is to help these ambassadors capture stories from their peers to spark positive change. Since launching at the beginning of 2017, the TEGA have captured more than 6,000 video and audio stories.
Learn more about this incredible work here.
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Kenya: tackling FGM through an app
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Five girls in Kenya, who have dubbed themselves "The Restorers," are working to fight female genital mutilation (FGM) with an app.
i-Cut is being designed to help connect girls who may have experienced or are due to receive FGM with legal and medical support services. If a girl is about to be cut against her will, The Restorers are including a “panic button” where law enforcement can be notified immediately so they can render support.
Read more about this innovation here.
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Safety apps: women's security or women's surveillance?
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Bengaluru’s mayor is investing in ‘wearable’ bands which women can wear on the wrist, with motion sensors and a panic button, and accompanied by a mobile app integrated with police control rooms.
The wearable may make women feel safer, but the wearer's location is sent to ‘guardians’ when the wrist is moved in a certain way, and a new report asks - do safety apps and wearables like these prioritise women’s safety or surveillance? Do they take away autonomy?
Read the full article here.
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GBV reporting app in Afghanistan
This mobile app developed by three Afghan women helps Afghan women and girls cope with street harassment. The app, called Muhafiz, allows women to report street harassment in real time.
Read more.
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WhatsApp story about women, work & equality
Women’s Advancement Deeply shared real-time updates last month about three working women in Myanmar, Nigeria and Pakistan. To find out what their working lives are like, read more here.
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Women-only ride sharing app in Bangladesh
Launched in December 2017, Lily is an app where women get motor bike rides from female drivers, opening up new income streams for women.
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