[huridocs-tech] APC Hafkin Prize awarded

2001 APC AFRICA HAFKIN PRIZE WINNER TRAINS WOMEN IN RURAL NIGERIA TO USE 
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR PEACE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA -- The first APC Africa Hafkin Communications
Prize in recognition of outstanding and creative uses of information and
communication technologies was awarded at Wednesday evening's African
Communications & Technology (ACT) Summit gala dinner to the Bayanloco
Community Learning Centre in Kaduna State, Nigeria, an initiative of the
Fantsuam Foundation led by Kazanka Comfort.

Ms. Comfort's work on a women-led peace initiative in the villages,
where women act as detectors of potential flash-points of communal
violence and as peace brokers, made her realize that fast communication
among the rural women could mean the difference between life and death
in an emergency situation. She had seen email in action while abroad
studying and felt it could be a solution. However, the villages she was
working in were poor and rural, in many cases without electricity, let
alone computer equipment.

Her employer, the Fantsuam Foundation, also saw the potential impact
that having an email address and access to computers in each village
could make, and so did the villagers. So, the Foundation decided to
support community-based, community- sustained computer centres as part
of their microcredit and poverty alleviation scheme. The first Community
Learning Centre (CLC) was set up through the disbursement of loans to
women of the Bechechet Bayinring clan of Kpunyai village with Kazanka
Comfort providing basic computer literacy classes. Users paid fees to
train and use the facilities, sometimes in-kind.

"The most amazing aspect about the Bayanloco Community Learning Centre,"
said Nancy Hafkin, "is that it managed to come into existence at all".
Ms. Hafkin, for whom the APC prize was named, should know. As a key
pioneer of networking and development information and communications in
Africa, over the course of a twenty-three year career, she has seen even
promising ICT initiatives fail. In contrast, the Bayanloco Centre had to
overcome multiple obstacles, including the initial opposition of an
all-male Board of Trustees, technophobia among the rural women who would
be beneficiaries of the project, high levels of illiteracy, initial lack
of Internet access, no phone and no regular supply of electricity. The
project founder and leader was herself no "techie", but simply a woman
from Nigeria who realized the potential of the technology to help rural
women not only meet their basic needs but also to save lives in times of
emergency and communal strife.

Largely due to the determination of Ms. Comfort and the enthusiastic
reception of the IT training by local communities, eight additional
rural communities and two tertiary education institutions have requested
partnership with the Fantsuam Foundation in order to start their own
CLCs; the Bayanloco Women's Microcredit groups supervise the CLC; and
two training colleges are using the facilities for their Distance
Learning Programme for teachers in rural communities. There are plans to
provide satellite-based email and Internet access financed by a recent
grant.

"Kazanka Comfort demonstrated that information technology is not an
unnecessary luxury for rural women in poor countries, but rather a tool
to help them meet their needs. The project was not technology driven; it
was woman-driven!" said Hafkin in her award statement, read at the ACT
Summit by APC's Executive Director, Anriette Esterhuysen.  "The Hafkin
Prize winner and the other finalists debunk some common myths about
Africa and African women," added Ms. Esterhuysen. "There is a perception
that Africa is the 'unconnected continent', bypassed by the so-called
'information age', and that African women are disempowered victims of
social and economic equality. What is not adequately recognised is that
Africans, and specifically African women are being remarkably
innovative, entrepreneurial and courageous in engaging information and
communications technologies, in spite of limited access to resources and
infrastructure.  The Hafkin Prize is as much about promoting African
capacity and creativity in the information technology sector as it is
about recognising specific initiatives."


ABOUT THE PRIZE

APC launched the Africa Hafkin Prize to reward outstanding African
initiatives that successfully use information and communications
technology (ICTs) for development. The theme for the Hafkin Prize in
2001 is: women-led, women-informed, women-inspired initiatives.


The USD$7,500.00 Hafkin prize is open to civil society organisations,
government institutions, educational organisations, community-based
groups, networks, social movements or individuals anywhere in Africa. As
well as being women-centred, qualifying initiatives must demonstrate the
creativity of their use of ICTs (especially the Internet) and the
success of their work in terms of mobilising participation and building
capacity. Only initiatives that have been developed and implemented from
within Africa, and by people and institutions that are based in Africa,
are eligible. The Prize will be awarded again in 2002.


ABOUT APC

Founded 1990, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) was
the first globally interconnected NGO network of groups working for
peace, human rights, development and protection of the environment.
Offering e-mail and computer conferencing services to civil society in
the late 1980s and early 1990s marked a huge leap into the future. There
was no faster or more secure way for activists, including South African
anti-apartheid groups, to get their messages out to the world and
coordinate international action. APC continues to pioneer new ways for
civil society to use the Internet strategically. Members and partners
across the world continue to work together online, now moving into new
areas monitoring ICT policies, linked to issues of freedom of
information and access, in Europe, Latin America and Africa, and the
role of information and communication technology in developing
countries. Our network of members and partners spans the globe, with
presence in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin
America and North America. APC: http://www.apc.org.

APC's Africa Programme encourages APC's African members and partners to
work locally and regionally to interpret our action areas in the region.
Strengthening indigenous information sharing and independent networking
capacity on the continent are key priorities.

APC-Africa-Women, the regional programme of APC's Women's Networking
Support Programme (APC-WNSP) gathers and works together with women and
women's organisations in Africa and all over the world, focusing on
African women's empowerment through information facilitation, regional
support, policy and advocacy, training and research in the field of
ICTs.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

APC Hafkin Prize Website:
http://www.apc.org/english/hafkin [English]
http://www.apc.org/francais/hafkin [French]

The six Hafkin Prize finalists:
http://www.apc.org/english/hafkin/haf_finalists.htm
http://www.apc.org/francais/hafkin/haf_finalists.htm

The Fantsuam Foundation Website:
http://www.kabissa.org/fantsuam
E-mail: fantsuamfoundation@fantsuam.com

Contacts:

Anriette Esterhuysen
APC Executive Director
PO Box 31
Johannesburg
2000 South Africa
Tel: + 27 11 726-1692
Fax: + 27 11 492-1058
Email: anriette@apc.org

Maureen James
APC Hafkin Prize Coordinator
53 Parkside Drive
Toronto, Ontario
M6R 2Y7 Canada
Tel: +1 416 516-8138
Fax: +1 416 516-0131
Email: maureen@apc.org

Photos available: khiggs@apc.org


Response from the APC Hafkin Prize winner: Kazanka Comfort on
behalf of the Bayanloco Computer Learning Centre, Nigeria

Dear APC (..)

I am still trying to absorb the effects of this prize you have given to
us. The recognition you have accorded us through this prize suddenly makes
every effort so much more worthwhile. I thank you very much. I never
dreamt that what we were doing at Bayanloco would get heard even in
Nigeria's capital city, and now we are getting solidarity greetings from
all over the world. Your thoughtful consideration and recognition have
strengthened my knees, and especially coming from fellow women.

The issue of technophobia is one which has been very close to my heart and
I was planning to start a new initiative which we have called 'Catch them
Young' in which I will be addressing female students in secondary schools
and instituting an essay competition. Winners and runners-up will be given
scholarships for IT training at Bayanloco. The Hafkin Prize has come at an
opportune time as part of it will be used for the scholarships and we
would like to have your permission to call these the HAFKIN SCHOLARSHIP
FOR WOMEN'S IT TRAINING AT BAYANLOCO. May be the graduation of the first
recipients of this scholarship will be an ooportunity for the Hafkin team
to also visit us? We will work towards this. The rest of the Hafkin Prize
will go towards providing email access for us at Bayanloco - the prize has
made a distant dream almost a reality.

On behalf of the Bayanloco CLC and Fantsuam Foundation, I wish to thank
you all very much for your support.

Kazanka Comfort
Bayanloco CLC
Kafanchan
NIGERIA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director
Asociacion para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones
Association for Progressive Communications
anriette@apc.org
http://www.apc.org
Tel. 27 11 726 1692
Fax 27 11 726 1692





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