CRASA News 2018

Women in ICT: Bridging the Digital Divide and Reaching the Unserved Workshops

Port Louis: The Information and Communications Technologies Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation will be hosting two workshops of the Communications Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa (CRASA) from the 15-16th May, 2018 at Le Meridien Hotel, Pointe aux Piments. The workshops are underpinned by the concept of Universal Access and democratizing access to ICTs.

The first workshop on 15th May convened by CRASA is on the theme: ‘Women in ICT: Bridging the Digital Divide’. Discussion will focus on how the United Nations’ Sustainable Goal Number 5 ‘to achieve gender equality and empower all girls and women’ can be achieved in the southern african region. CRASA has recognised the gender imbalance in access and use of the information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the need to bridge the gender digital divide in order to allow girls and women to partake in achievement of social and economic growth in the digital economy.

CRASA is also convening the second workshop on May 16th entitled ‘Reaching the Unserved’. The CRASA workshops are being organised in partnership with the Association of Progressive Communications (APC) and the GSMA. Resource persons from the CRASA Secretariat, the GSMA and the APC will be among the speakers.

The workshops are a continuation of a series of discussions regarding achieving universal access and service to ICTs to all citizens of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Delegates from CRASA will be joined by local stakeholders and are expected to examine a range of innovations in both regulation and technologies that would bring affordable access to all, especially, the underserved and rural areas. The workshop will, therefore, explore business models that have succeeded in other parts of the world in addressing connectivity gaps.

On the 17th and 18th May, the ICT Authority will also be hosting the Universal Access Service Committee meeting of the CRASA.

14 May 2018