Women, Markets and ICTs

In the remote village of “Labongogali” in Amuru District, Northern Uganda, it was difficult to imagine that this lady walking purposefully to the meeting was going to have anything to do with technology and accessing markets. Not only that, but the National Electricity power grid does not even pass this village... the question going on in my mind was that ..” Will these people ever get out of this remoteness? Where are the shops? Where is the market? All I could see at the trading centre were happy faces threshing their groundnuts! It was harvest time! We were to introduce ICTs to these ladies and gentlemen. This time also men and some youth were involved. (Unlike other previous interventions that involved only women farmers). The idea was to use mobile telephony to access markets in the region. But for the purpose of this training, we would use the main market in Gulu district.

As we progressed deeper into the village the idea of even using more advanced ICTs become more and more remote. The idea behind all this concept was that once women are economically empowered, and there is increased income at the house level, enough necessities going round, trouble in the house would be less. This would relate directly to the reduction of incidences of Gender Based Violence in communities.

“For Lanyero, this was something completely new, not workable at all! Her interest kept on wavering as we explained. She wanted to be able to see her buyer, not some remote person or gadget telling her the price! She had never touched a phone, how was she even going to learn the functionalities of a phone in a two days training? “

The challenges of introducing ICT projects in rural communities are diverse and interesting. They range from the interest of the communities to infrastructural challenges. Perceptions and attitudes are some of the most daunting challenges that community workers face, let alone the skills levels. But for how long would women like Lanyero be left behind in the technological advancements taking place in Agricultural sector?

So with this in mind, we started the basic training in the use of the mobile phones to access commodity prices. The atmosphere was tense with expectation, excitement of learning something new! Some people had never touched a phone, with some giggling here and there we took it step by step. But they warned us, this should not be the only training, this has to continue! With that in mind, we understood that use of ICTs in the rural communities is not only about training, it is linking it to a better life for this person.

Janet C Achora- The writer is Senior Programme Officer- WOUGNET