In that capacity, they are likely to make health a priority and that will translate into policies that will uplift the status ofwomen in their constituent districts" (NGO Coordinating Committee of Zambia). "Poverty needs to be tackled first so that women are empowered, and perhaps given the tools to seek positions of leadership. For example, in Zambia, of 13 NGOs assessed for Women Connect!, 10 included reproductive health as a priorityarea but gave greater importance to economic empowerment and land rights, explaining that these issues greatly impact reproductive health. In conferences such as the ICPD and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, women from southern countries had made it clear that, for women living in poverty, their health is linked directly to other issues: food for their families, access to clean water, land and credit, and inheritance and other legal rights. The factwas that relatively few women's NGOs in Africa have reproductive health as a major focus, although many are tackling HIV/AIDS and violence against women. We argued with ourselves that Women Connect! should not restrict its collaboration only to women's groups that were working on reproductive and sexual health, or would do so as a condition for support. We wanted to set an example of how a northern organisation could collaborate with southern organisations while allowing them to pursue their self-defined agenda and needs. On the other hand, NGOs in southern (developing) countries strongly resent being "donor-driven" and strongly prefer that northern organisations do not super-impose agendas that sway them from their missions and intended goals.
On the one hand, it is well-established that donor funding is much more available for work related to reproductive and sexual health - especially family planning, contraception, and HIV/AIDS – than for efforts aimed only at improving the status, or even health, of women more generally. This question cuts directly to the heart of several thorny issues in north-south cooperation. In seeking funding for Women Connect!, the project team debated at great length the extent to whichhealth, and specifically reproductive health, should be emphasised. In the long run, ICT can save organisations money, because they can use Internet and e-mail and cut down on the cost of international phone and fax charges. Organisations too often use traditional mediaand develop messages without strategic planning,research or evaluation components.ĥ. Introducing new technology into any organisation will cause changes within the organisation by putting pressure on systems, relationships, communication and managementstyles.Ĥ. (Forinstance, often an organisation's computer may be locked up in the boss's office under a heavy blanket or, if there are several computers, each one has its own printer, which is very expensive.)ģ. Organisations may be wired (plugged in), but computer technology is seldom maximised by broader connections, both within the organisation and to the outside world.
The combined focus on traditional media, massmedia and ICT is appropriate.Ģ. In January 1999, the Gates Foundation awarded a grant of one million dollars for the expansion, called Women Connect! The objectives, values and assumptions that motivated the pilot project were retained but more clearly defined in Women Connect! Principles that emerged from or were reinforced by the pilot project, and that then guided Women Connect!, are shown belowĬommunication Principles for Project Design:ġ. With the success and lessons learned from the pilot project, the Pacific Institute sought funding toexpand to at least three countries and approximately 10-15 organisations per country. from T-Shirts to Web Links: Women Connect! Building Communications Capacity with Women's NGOs
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