The Centre for Information Technology and Development has called for stronger collaboration among government institutions, private organisations, civil society groups and other stakeholders to bridge the gender digital divide and expand economic opportunities for women and girls in Kano State.
The call was made on Tuesday during a state-level stakeholder engagement organised by CITAD under its Addressing the Gender Digital Divide and Expanding Business Opportunities for Women in Northern Nigeria (Agenda-WINNIG) Project in Kano.
Speaking at the engagement, the Project Manager, Fatima Babakura, said the meeting was organised to present the progress recorded under the project, share lessons from its implementation and discuss findings from community town hall engagements.
She said the meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss institutional and policy barriers affecting women’s participation in the digital economy and explore ways of integrating the project’s recommendations into existing government programmes and policies.
Babakura said stakeholders were expected to develop practical recommendations that would help sustain the project’s outcomes beyond its implementation period.
“The engagement provided a platform to present the progress and emerging lessons from Agenda-WINNIG, share findings from community-level engagements, hear directly from beneficiaries, and obtain recommendations from stakeholders on how interventions can be strengthened and sustained,” she said.
Stakeholders at the meeting noted that the gender digital divide in Kano went beyond access to digital devices and internet connectivity.
They identified limited practical digital skills, social and cultural norms, language barriers, online safety concerns, inadequate infrastructure, poor maintenance of ICT facilities, limited access to finance and markets, as well as inadequate post-training support as some of the barriers affecting women’s participation in the digital economy.
Some beneficiaries said the project had improved their ability to use digital tools, including creating and managing Gmail accounts, navigating emails, participating in Google Meet, managing documents and operating computer hardware.
They also said the training enabled them to recognise phishing emails and understand basic personal digital safety.
The stakeholders stressed the importance of practical and hands-on digital literacy training for women and girls.
Representing the Bank of Industry, Shafi’i Abubakar said the bank was willing to explore opportunities to support women through business support clinics, sensitisation and linkages to relevant financial services, including women-focused financing initiatives.
He said collaboration among relevant institutions would be necessary to ensure that women who acquired digital skills could also access finance and markets to expand their businesses.
The meeting also identified opportunities for collaboration with media organisations, educational institutions, ICT centres, private training hubs, the National Youth Service Corps, women-focused organisations, traditional and religious institutions and business associations.
The stakeholders further stressed that sustainable digital inclusion required moving beyond isolated training programmes to an ecosystem linking digital skills with infrastructure, online safety, entrepreneurship, finance, market access, mentorship, institutional support and follow-up.
The Agenda-WINNIG Project focuses on addressing the gender digital divide and expanding business opportunities for women and girls in Northern Nigeria.
