Session Two | Oct 29
SESSION TITLE
Gender in CNs - community power dynamics and roles - reclaiming a seat at the decision-making table
ABOUT THE SESSION
In this session, the LocNet coordinators of Africa and Asia will share with us their experience of the different contexts of community power dynamics and how women have reclaimed space through a gender lens in CNs.
ABOUT THE MENTORS
Josephine Miliza
Josephine Miliza is a network engineer passionate about enabling communities in Africa to leverage digital technologies for socioeconomic empowerment. In 2016 she started working as the project manager for TunapandaNET, a community network in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya that focuses on promoting access for all, adoption of digital technologies and ICT capabilities for the local community. She is also the founder of Tech Dada, a women-in-tech initiative within Tunapanda Institute that seeks to educate, equip and empower young women and girls to become innovators and agents of change in the 21st century. She has become a champion for community networks in Africa, participating in organising the Africa community networks summit, awareness building, and capacity building forums. Her current interests are in bottom-up sustainable connectivity models and creative approaches to an enabling environment that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation, especially for youth and women in Africa. As the Africa regional coordinator Josephine is working under the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet). Josephine is the regional coordinator nominated by KICTANet, the project implementing partner in Africa.
Sarbani Banarjee Belur
Dr. Sarbani Banerjee Belur holds a PhD in Demography from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She has a MA in Sociology from the University of Hyderabad. Currently she is a senior research scientist in the Gram Marg Rural Broadband initiative at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, India. Prior to this, she was a visiting research fellow at Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai and Future Ideas, Mumbai. She has also taught courses in sociology and development as a guest lecturer at IIT Bombay and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has published in international conferences, contributed book chapters and has authored a book in the areas of demography and social issues. Her current work involves increasing digital outreach to remote and rural areas of India, women and their usage of connectivity, development of sustainable business models supporting the Public-Private-Panchayat Partnership (4-P) model, seeding the growth of community networks, developing community technologies, meaningful usage and utilisation of connectivity, and impact assessment studies of connectivity in the lives of people. The impact studies that she focuses on are based on gender, social and economic impacts of connectivity.