Report Digital4Women: how to enable women empowerment in Africa through mainstreaming digital technologies and services in EU development programmes FWC SIEA 2018- LOT 4: Human development and safety net EuropeAid/138778/DH/SER/multi 2019/410088 Final Report This project is funded by A project implemented by The European Union Conseil Santé consortium Digital4Women 1 Final Report Digital4Women: how to enable women’s empowerment in Africa through mainstreaming Project title: digital technologies and services in EU development programmes Project reference: 2019/410088/1 Country: Belgium Unit C5 Directorate-General International Client: Cooperation and Development Directorate-General International Cooperation (DEVCO) and Development (DEVCO) [email protected] 92 Boulevard Victor Hugo 92115 Clichy France Consultant: Conseil Santé Tel: 33 (0) 1 55 46 92 66 Fax: 33 (0) 1 55 46 92 79 Contact Person: Bridget RELYEA Date of report: 08 September 2020 Golala Ruhani Rapport drafted by: Rachel Lock The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Conseil Santé and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union Final Report TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1 1 CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS: WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT THROUGH DIGITAL IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA .................. 3 1.1 State of Affairs: Trends and Ecosystem............................................ 3 1.1.1 Regional and National Trends ............................................................... 3 1.1.1.1 Regional Trends .................................................................................. 3 1.1.1.2 Trends per cluster of countries ............................................................ 6 1.1.1.3 Shortlist of countries for further analysis ...........................................13 1.1.2 Policy Frameworks on Digital & Gender and the Digital Ecosystem in Sub-Saharan Africa .............................................................................14 1.1.2.1 Sub-Sahara Africa Policy Frameworks..............................................14 1.1.2.2 EU Policy Framework ........................................................................18 1.1.2.3 Digital Ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa ........................................20 1.2 Challenges and opportunities ..........................................................21 1.2.1 Challenges ...........................................................................................21 1.2.1.1 Cross-Cutting Challenges .................................................................21 1.2.1.2 Challenges per D4D area ..................................................................23 1.2.2 Opportunities ........................................................................................27 1.2.2.1 Addressing the “mobile phone access gender gap” could help address the “internet access gender gap” ..........................................27 1.2.2.2 Addressing the gender gap in digital literacy and skills to bridge the “gender digital divide” ..........................................................................28 1.2.2.3 Investing in female entrepreneurs could lead to job creation and social outcomes ..................................................................................29 2 GOOD PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNT ......................30 2.1 Connectivity and Infrastructure .......................................................30 2.1.1 Focusing on areas being left behind, such as remote and rural areas 31 2.1.2 Strategic partnerships to address infrastructure and connectivity .......31 2.1.3 Offline solutions to overcome lack of connectivity ...............................32 2.2 Digital Skills and Literacy .................................................................32 2.2.1 Mainstreaming of gender and digital in education systems .................33 2.2.2 Gender-sensitive training programmes designed for the tech sector ..33 Digital4Women List of figures 2.2.3 Community approach to women and girls’ training programmes ........33 2.3 Digital Entrepreneurship and Job Creation ....................................35 2.3.1 Provide gender-sensitive entrepreneurship training targeted at women ............................................................................................................36 2.3.2 Promote representation of and collaboration between women in the tech sector ...........................................................................................37 2.4 Digital as Enabler for Sustainable Development ............................38 2.4.1 E-services Benefiting Women ..............................................................38 2.4.2 Use of digital for transparency and accountability ...............................38 2.4.3 Use of digital for health ........................................................................39 2.4.4 Use of digital for agriculture .................................................................40 2.4.5 Use of digital financial services ............................................................41 3 OVERVIEW OF CURRENT EC INITIATIVES .........................43 3.1 Geographic and Thematic Distribution ...........................................43 3.1.1 Geographic Distribution .......................................................................43 3.1.2 Thematic distribution ............................................................................44 3.2 Overview of ‘Gender’ and ‘Digital’ Project Components ...............45 3.2.1 Overview of “Gender Mainstreaming” in projects ................................45 3.2.2 Overview of ‘Digital’ project components .............................................46 3.2.3 To what extent are ‘digital’ and ‘gender’ project components related? ............................................................................................................46 3.3 Overview of projects per D4D Priority Area ....................................47 3.3.1 Connectivity and Infrastructure ............................................................47 3.3.2 Digital Skills and Literacy .....................................................................48 3.3.3 Digital Entrepreneurship and Job Creation ..........................................49 3.3.4 Digital as an Enabler for Sustainable Development ............................50 3.4 Overview of projects per sector .......................................................51 3.4.1 Agriculture ............................................................................................52 3.4.2 Education .............................................................................................52 3.4.3 Employment .........................................................................................52 3.4.4 Energy and Environment .....................................................................53 3.4.5 Governance .........................................................................................53 3.4.6 Health and Nutrition .............................................................................53 4 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................55 4.1 Infrastructure, Connectivity and Policy Frameworks ....................55 4.1.1 Advance “digital for women” policy and regulatory frameworks ..........55 4.1.2 Pursue efforts to improve infrastructure and connectivity throughout the region ............................................................................................57 4.2 Digital Literacy and Digital Skills .....................................................58 4.3 Digital for Growth, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation ................59 4.4 Digital Technologies as an Enabler for Sustainable Development and E-Services ..................................................................................60 4.5 Cross-Cutting Recommendations ....................................................61 4.5.1 Transform institutional culture and knowledge to systematically promote and support ‘digital for gender’ .............................................61 4.5.2 Effectively mainstream ‘digital for gender’ throughout the project cycle ............................................................................................................62 4.5.3 Channel funding to support implementation of ‘digital for gender’ programmes and data collection .........................................................63 Conseil Santé Final Report ANNEXES ........................................................................................65 5 ANNEX 1: METHODOLOGY ...................................................66 5.1 Selection of Indicators ......................................................................66 5.2 Shortlisted Country Analysis ...........................................................67 5.3 EC current initiatives analysis ..........................................................69 5.4 Development of the Recommendations and Limitations ..............70 6 ANNEX 2: LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS INTERVIEWED .........71 7 ANNEX 3: EC INITIATIVES ANALYSIS IN MAPS .................73 8 ANNEX 4: LIST OF DIGITAL FOR DEVELOPMENT AND GAPII PROJECTS AND ANALYSIS .......................................75 9 ANNEX 5: COUNTRY CASE STUDIES .................................81 10 REFERENCES ......................................................................271 Digital4Women List of figures LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: High scoring countries (developed