[UgaBYTES] Information local Columbian Dialect about women's issues becomes available on the internet

[mfrancis at ugabytes.org]

One of the key issues that were discussed during the just concluded East
African Telecentre Leaders Forum (EATLF) was the participation of Women in
all aspects of ICT. It is both encouraging and challenging to all those
who participated at the conference to know that people in other parts of
the world have gone even further to ensure women do get equal chances of
access t the internet. The following is a story of a Cambodian NGO that
launched a web portal in a local dialect (Khmer) dedicated to addressing
women issues in that region.
The Open Institute – a Cambodian NGO - launched a Khmer language web
portal on October 24 2007. It will give non-governmental organisations,
the government, and other organisations working on women's issues in
Cambodia easy access to legislation and latest developments related to
women's issues. The web portal -through advanced communication tools open
to all participants and users- will allow government, NGOs and individuals
to share their concerns and announce their activities, in search of
synergies with other organisations. This web portal fills a pressing need
in Cambodian society, as information on womens issues, legislation and
activities has not yet been made available in the Internet, as it is not
so easy to find otherwise.

The Women's web portal aims at  promoting gender equality in a society in
which women can exercise their rights in a balanced way and can build
competence to become self-sufficient, with improved women’s participation
in social, economic and political life. It does so by providing
information that may help other NGOs increase their impact.

Information available on the Women's web portal includes laws, legal
documents, conventions to eliminate all forms of discrimination against
women, the current state of challenges faced by women, profile and
activities of women's institutions and networks, sharing of life's
experiences by women, news related to law enforcement and practice,
Information Technology, capacity building, leadership, and many other
issues that might affect women in Cambodia.

The Women's web portal also provides advanced tools for communications
among users and participants. These tools facilitate exchange of
information among organizations, supporting their efforts to act in
coordination. The tools include mailing list, online forums, the
possibility for all user to write their own blogs, and for NGOs to
maintain their own pages with information about their profiles, goals and
activities. The web portal is accessible at http://women.open.org.kh

Mrs. Chim Manavy, Executive Director of the Open Institute, commented in
her speech that “The Women's web portal is an important resource to
disseminate information, share knowledge, and facilitate communication in
society. Information is power. Expression of opinions helps improving
confidence. Therefore, when women have access to sufficient information,
understand about rights, have access to knowledge, and are confident,
their participations through various activities in social development will
be strengthened.”

The Women's web portal is an important part of the “Women Empowerment for
Social Change” program of the Open Institute. Another important activity
of this program is to build capacity in organizations working on women's
issues on the use and teaching of Khmer computer software and electronic
communications as a tool for empowerment of women. The Women's program
also conducts research on gender and ICT.

The launching of the Web portal was attended by over 120 participants, and
counted with the participation of Sy Define, Under Secretary of State at
the Ministry of Women Affairs, who expressed her happiness to see the new
web portal come to life, supplying more than necessary information for
Cambodian organizations. She also conveyed the hope that access to this
information it might help reduce domestic violence.