Girls' Net

This initiative works to develop girls' capacity to draw on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to find information relevant to their lives and experiences, as well as to exchange their ideas on various social issues, communicate with other girls, and express themselves creatively.

The GN website (currently under construction) is designed to provide information on such topics as girls' rights, sexuality and relationships, violence and safety, HIV/AIDS and puberty, and career and educational options. It focuses on providing this information in the form of creative and reflective postings by GN "members" - girls whose self-portraits and "diaries" are posted on dedicated sections of the website. Thus, a factual description of a project that taught girls (ages 11 to 18) basic photographic and visual literacy skills is juxtaposed against a section of the website called "Fun Stuff!" which includes "our poems, our stories, our lives!" Information is also dissemminated via the GN newsletter, Gist.

Face-to-face exchanges to build girls' capacity to contribute to the growth of this website - and to use technology, more broadly - are also central to the programme's strategy. GN began with 4 technical training camps that resulted in the creation of provincial technology clubs. Small groups of girls come together to learn computer literacy and audio production, so that they can work with software, handle simple web design, and edit online and printed newsletters. Organisers then facilitate girls' access to telecentres and community centres where they can engage with technology on an ongoing basis, as well as hold monthly meetings to discuss different issues that impact on their lives.

Specifically, the process of developing content for the website starts with vigorous discussions among the girls on the chosen theme (for example, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, rights of girls in education, leadership). They later input this information into the different sections of the GN website and the online newsletter. The goal is to enable girls to feed information - as well as thoughts, concerns, and ideas for change - into a website that they themselves have helped to build.

More recently, GN has engaged in other non-web based activities via the various tech clubs, including photography workshops and exhibitions, and international conferences.

Youth, Children, Gender, Technology