Session One | Oct 11
SESSION TITLE
Understanding ICT laws, policy and gender.
ABOUT THE SESSION
Gender perspective in policy and gender elements can be integrated in policy. What are the methodologies to assess policy with gender perspective? What is the policy enabling and who the policy serve? How can policies serve inclusion, safety and be intersectional?
ABOUT THE MENTORS
Eleanor Sarpong
Eleanor is A4AI’s Deputy Director & Policy lead. She directs policy and has oversight on A4AI’s country engagements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She leads public policy engagements with governments and companies and has provided guidance on universal access, digital taxation, Infrastructure sharing, arbitrary regulations on the ICT sector and digital inclusion. She led the development of Liberia’s national broadband policy 2019-2024 and A4AI’s recommendations into Nigeria’s Broadband plan 2020-2025. She also oversaw the updating of the supplementary act for Universal Service for ECOWAS and currently directs A4AI’s work with a2i on a Digital Strategy for Bangladesh. Eleanor is passionate about connectivity, gender and development, and currently advocates for meaningful connectivity, universal access and affordability. She has championed and written on topics such as complementary connectivity solutions, 5G, universal access, consumer facing taxation, Infrastructure sharing and digital inclusion aimed particularly at advancing women in developing regions. Eleanor holds an Implementing Public Policy certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the Warwick Business School, UK where she was a Chevening scholar.
Marwa Azelmat
Marwa offers extensive experience in policy advocacy work related to cyber policy issues, gendered policy making and good governance. Marwa’s journey has been captured in the UN-AU Commemorative Book on UNSCR 1325, titled “20 Years 20 Stories”, as one of 20 African women who have made an outstanding contribution in their fields to the broader Women, Peace, and Security agenda. Her story among others echoes outspoken activism challenging the way it has always been done and positioning internet rights as accelerators of the SDG 16. Throughout her work, Marwa has been rethinking social justice in a digital age wherein institutional development needs to unleash gendered technology for effective policy measures and accountability practices. Marwa holds a Masters of Laws-LLM in International Human Rights Law and Democratization, an IT engineering degree and a professional certificate on Conflict Prevention and Resolution through Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-proliferation from the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) at Vienna. Marwa loves journaling, running by the sea and meditating to break free of life’s mundane shackles.