Bridging the digital gender divide to stimulate growth in African digital economies

弥合数字性别鸿沟，刺激非洲数字经济增长

• 批准号: EP/T030410/1
• 负责人: Winfred Onyas
• 金额: $ 13.15万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FT030410%2F1
• 关键词: Bridging; digital; gender; divide; stimulate

This project focuses on the Digital Rights theme and specifically, on "the use of digital technology to enhance participation and access for women and minority groups". It seeks to achieve, but is not limited to, Sustainable Development Goals 5 (gender equality and empowering all women and girls) and 8 (sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth). The project addresses the digital gender divide in Africa, which is highest globally (International Telecommunication Union, 2016) and in particular, African women's continued under-representation that threatens to further economically dis-empower and entrench their gender-inequality. Cultivating female digital talent and enterprise will potentially address skills supply and demand gaps, increase productivity and innovation, and help firms to tailor their tech offerings to meet women's needs (UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, 2017).Likewise, Small and Medium sized Businesses/SMBs-the growth engine of African economies-often lack the knowhow and capacity to effectively unlock digital opportunities. Specifically, SMBs struggle to provide accessible and appropriate digital solutions to a largely underserved African female market (Intel Corporation, 2013). Intermediaries e.g. innovation hubs and digital skills initiatives are attempting to bridge the gap through digital skills and entrepreneurship support, but are equally resource constrained. The formation of cross-sector partnerships therefore becomes critical between academia and digital ecosystem stakeholders if digital opportunities for women are to be leveraged.The project team includes a PI Onyas, Co-I Dawa, Co-I Acheampong, Consultants Ball and Giugni and Partner Bar-Shany who will lead in the formation of a Network including 5 partners in Uganda and 6 in Ghana, of which 5 are part of Ball's network.The project will catalyse cross-sector collaborations and co-create solutions for bridging the digital gender divide in Africa. It will involve consultations with partners and digital ecosystem stakeholders and the co-creation of market-led solutions to drive women's inclusion and impact; and address women's digital participation and investment/ market gaps. The project will further seek to strengthen the digital support ecosystems in Uganda and Ghana, and enhance knowledge exchange with UK academic institutions, businesses, investors and digital industry experts.Guided by systems thinking, this project will catalyse cross-sectoral collaborations to stimulate digital growth in Uganda and Ghana, which represent two rapidly emerging digital economies in Africa. Consultations with partners and diverse stakeholders will therefore become pertinent in the cultivation of synergies to drive system-wide growth across the African digital sectors. We propose to bridge the digital gender divide by harnessing opportunities and synergies between: women and the digital ecosystem, SMBs and innovation hubs, SMBs and digital skills initiatives, digital skills initiatives and innovation hubs, and impact investors and policymakers.To realise the economic and social sustainable development of local capacity and solutions, we plan to collaboratively identify local/international investment and finance opportunities and recommend inclusive measures to enhance female digital entrepreneurship and access to capital. We also propose to develop partnerships and knowledge exchange between African and UK digital actors, aimed at scaling African SMBs, enabling female entrepreneurs to access capital, and UK firms to access localised solutions in Africa (Digital Economy Report 2019).The 8-month networking phase will involve 4 work packages: 1. Partner/stakeholder consultations. 2. Co-creation workshops in Uganda and Ghana. 3. University-hosted co-development and implementation workshops in Uganda, Ghana and Leicester. 4. Network building entailing Uganda-Ghana knowledge exchange visits and a livestreamed event in London.

该项目的重点是数字权利主题，特别是“利用数字技术加强妇女和少数群体的参与和获取”。它力求实现但不限于可持续发展目标5(两性平等和赋予所有妇女和女童权力)和目标8(持续、包容和可持续的经济增长)。该项目解决了全球最大的非洲数字性别鸿沟(国际电信联盟，2016年)，特别是非洲妇女代表人数持续不足的问题，这有可能进一步剥夺经济权力，加深她们的性别不平等。培养女性数字人才和企业可能会解决技能供需缺口，提高生产率和创新力，并帮助公司定制技术产品以满足女性需求(联合国宽带可持续发展委员会，2017)。同样，中小型企业/中小企业--非洲经济的增长引擎--往往缺乏有效释放数字机会的技术和能力。具体地说，中小企业很难向服务不足的非洲女性市场提供可获得和适当的数字解决方案(英特尔公司，2013年)。创新中心和数字技能倡议等中介机构正试图通过数字技能和创业支持来弥合差距，但同样受到资源的限制。因此，如果要利用妇女的数字机会，学术界和数字生态系统利益攸关方之间的跨部门伙伴关系的形成就变得至关重要。项目团队包括一名Pi Onyas、Co-I Dawa、Co-I Acheampong、顾问Ball和Giugni以及合作伙伴Bar-Shany，他们将领导形成一个网络，其中包括5个在乌干达的合作伙伴和6个在加纳的合作伙伴，其中5个是Ball网络的一部分。该项目将促进跨部门合作并共同创建解决方案，以弥合非洲的数字性别鸿沟。它将涉及与合作伙伴和数字生态系统利益攸关方进行协商，共同创建以市场为主导的解决方案，以推动妇女的包容性和影响力；并解决妇女的数字参与和投资/市场差距。该项目将进一步寻求加强乌干达和加纳的数字支持生态系统，并加强与英国学术机构、企业、投资者和数字行业专家的知识交流。在系统思维的指导下，该项目将催化跨部门合作，以刺激乌干达和加纳的数字增长，这两个国家代表着非洲两个快速崛起的数字经济体。因此，与合作伙伴和不同利益攸关方的协商将成为培养协同增效作用的切入点，以推动整个非洲数字部门的全系统增长。我们建议通过利用妇女和数字生态系统、中小企业和创新中心、中小企业和数字技能倡议、数字技能倡议和创新中心以及影响投资者和政策制定者之间的机会和协同作用来弥合数字性别鸿沟。为了实现当地能力和解决方案的经济和社会可持续发展，我们计划协作寻找当地/国际投资和融资机会，并建议包容性措施，以加强女性数字创业和获得资本的机会。我们还建议在非洲和英国数字参与者之间发展伙伴关系和知识交流，旨在扩大非洲中小企业的规模，使女性企业家能够获得资本，使英国公司能够获得非洲本地化的解决方案(《2019年数字经济报告》)。为期8个月的网络阶段将包括4个工作包：1.合作伙伴/利益相关者咨询。2.在乌干达和加纳举办共同创作讲习班。3.在乌干达、加纳和莱斯特由大学主办的共同开发和实施讲习班。4.建立网络，进行乌干达-加纳知识交流访问，并在伦敦举行现场直播活动。