from MARIO RAJOMAZANDRY in Antananarivo, Madagascar
Madagascar Bureau
ANTANANARIVO, (CAJ News) – THE Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF or Telecommunications Without Borders) is leading efforts to close the gender-based digital divide in Madagascar.
Women in the rural areas of the Indian Ocean island nation are the most impacted by these disparities.
According to TSF, in the rural areas, only 29 percent of women have access to a mobile phone, 2,6 percent access the internet and 1,4 percent have access to a computer.
To address this, TSF has initiated a digital inclusion project, starting with a village in the rural region of Itasy, central Madagascar.
Its capital is Miarinarivo, 85 kilometres west of the nation’s capital, Antananarivo.
Through the intervention, TSF provides affordable access to the internet and computers through a cybercafé, as well as clubs to familiarise young people with technology.
Recently, the organisation met some women in Miarinarivo, which it believes was an opportunity to discuss their needs and discuss solutions to tackle digital exclusion.
“For these women, not having access to digital technology adds to their exclusion,” said Inès Guittonneau, spokesperson of TSF, this past weekend, from France.
TSF, the emergency technology non-governmental organization (NGO), is French-based.
The internet café is central to the organisation’s initiatives.
It has an average of 700 entries per month, with users mainly between the ages of 16-25 years old, made up, with one-third being girls and women.
Another facility, the IT Cup Centre, has initiated partnerships with local schools, where pupils receive an introduction to computers.
Besides the digital divide, Madagascar, the country of 32 million people, is also prone to poverty and natural disasters.
– CAJ News