BONDER, Gloria

Gloria Bonder has 20 years of systematic work in the field of women/gender studies and policies. She has funded and managed several pioneer programs related to women/gender issues in academic institutions, governmental offices and NGOs and developed influential research on gender and education, gender and communication and young women in Latin America. Ms. Bonder has a long experience in planning, coordination and evaluation of training programs and social policies address to women from different social backgrounds. In the last 8 years she has worked as a consultant for many national and regional organizations and have played an active role in the creation and development of many networks and associations of women organizations. Ms. Bonder is a psychologist with a post graduate in social policies and a specialist in gender and education.

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HAFKIN, Nancy

Dr. Nancy J. Hafkin has been working on issues of gender and information technology and development for more than twenty-five years. In 1976, she co-edited Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change (Stanford University Press). From 1976-1987 she worked as Chief of Research and Publications at the African Training and Research Centre for Women of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). In 2000 the Association for Progressive established an annual Nancy Hafkin Communications Prize competition, with the first prize allocated to women-led initiatives. In 2001 she co-authored Gender, Information and Developing Countries (published by USAID). In the area of information technology Nancy Hafkin spearheaded the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) from 1987 until 1997. She then served as Team Leader for Promoting of Information Technology for Development, of the Development Information ServicesDivision of ECA (UN) from 1997 until 2000, where she was Coordinator of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), the African governments' mandate to use ICTs to accelerate socio-economic development in Africa. Nancy also served as a facilitator in establishing the Partnership for Information and Communication Technologies in Africa (PICTA), a coordinating body of donor and executing agency partners in support of the AISI. She headed a number of early efforts at electronic connectivity in Africa, particularly through the Capacity Building for Electronic Communication in Africa project, 1993-1996 (CABECA) and the organization of major conferences including the Regional Symposium on Telematics (1995), Global Connectivity for Africa (1998) and the first African Development Forum: Challenges to African of Globalization and the Information Age (1999). Retired from the United Nations since 2000, Nancy is now working as a consultant on gender and information technology. She has a Ph.D. in African history from Boston University.

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ISAACS, Shafika

Shafika Isaacs is the Executive Director of SchoolNet Africa, a pan-African non-governmental organization dedicated to develop partnerships, business plans and African networks to promote the development of ICT education in Africa. As a Senior Programme Officer in the International Development Research Centre (South Africa), Ms. Issacs was leading the Acacia Initiative (South African Acacia Advisory Committee) that focused on three main areas: ICT and education, ICT policy design and development, and Youth, Gender and ICT designing project on gender integration in Africa. She has a Master in Science and Technology Policy (University of Sussex, UK) and B. Soc. Sc degree with majors in Economic History and industrial and labour studies with additional courses in Economics, Anthropology and Women's studies.

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JORGE, Sonia N.

Sonia N. Jorge is a consultant and has been involved in the telecommunications reform process for about 12 years. Her work focuses on communications policy, regulatory frameworks, universal service and universal access in the context of development, and gender analysis and awareness in the process of planning for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Recent projects include, the development of national policies for the governments of Mozambique and Sri Lanka, the design and implementation plan of the Telecommunications Development Fund for the Dominican Republic, the development of a training curriculum on gender perspectives in telecommunications policy for the UN-ITU, technical assistance to the Bolivian regulator, and the Telecentre Implementation Plan for the Republic of South Africa. Ms. Jorge has presented various papers in international conferences and workshops, primarily focusing on gender issues. Ms. Jorge has a Master in Public Policy (Tufts University) and a BA/BS in Economics and Business Finance (University of Massachusetts).

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KIRKUP, Gillian

Gillian Kirkup has more than 20 years of experience in gender issues and information technology. During her period teaching at the Open University (OU), she has been for a number of years the Chair of the Women into Science and Engineering Group, which promoted access and opportunities for women in science and technology, both in study and employment. Ms. Kirkup has been very active in the OU Equal Opportunities committee and the Academic Staff Promotions Committee. In 2000/1 she was head of the Institute's Academic Professional Development Programme, which organised staff development for academic work for the University. Ms. Kirkup has three main areas of research: personal computer and other media use amongst OU students, gender and distance education and women in technology. She has also participated in many seminars and consultancies in many well-known organizations and research institutes. Nowadays, Ms Kirkup is the Senior Lecturer in Educational Technology at the Institute of Educational Technology, Open University.

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MARCELLE, Gillian

Gillian Marcelle has been active in the telecommunications and information and communications technology (ICT) policy arena for the past 14 years. She began her career in telecommunications in 1998 as the Technical Coordinator of the secretariat of the regional telecommunication industry association, CANTO in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Since then Ms Marcelle has held a variety of assignments in this industry. She has worked as an academic; as a regulator, with Oftel in the UK; in the private sector with BT and JP Morgan Chase; and as a consultant to NGOs, private sector companies, national governments and international organisations including UNDP, UNIFEM, UN-ECA, ITU and UNU-INTECH. Ms Marcelle serves on the UN ICT Task Force, which provides advice to the Secretary General on the United Nations mandate and objective to use ICTs to promote sustainable human development. She was one of the members of the High Level panel, which advised the United Nations on ICT and development issues in preparation for the 55th session of the General Assembly in 2000. Ms Marcelle trained as an economist at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, and obtained an MBA from George Washington University. She is currently preparing to be examined for a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy at Sussex University, where her research focused on technology capability building processes in firms in the African telecommunications industry. Gillian has published widely with a focus on innovation policies in developing countries, telecommunications liberalisation and gender and development issues. Since the Beijing World Conference in 1995, she has been an active leader in developing and implementing gender justice strategies in the ICT sector. Ms Marcelle chairs the African Information Society Gender Working Group (AISGWG) and has been Vice Chair of the ITU Task Force on Gender Issues since 1998.

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MIJUMBI, Rita

Rita Mijumbi is currently working as Project Manager for Uganda Development Services, an NGO implementing an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project in Eastern Uganda, aimed at facilitating community development through information sharing and technical empowerment. She is also a member of the Uganda Development Gateway Working Group that is responsible for developing an information-sharing network (Internet Portal) for Uganda in consultation with stakeholders. Previously worked as Consultant for the International Women's Tribune Centre to develop a CD-ROM for Rural Women Entrepreneurs for use at the Telecentres in Uganda. Prior to that, worked as Project Officer for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded Acacia Programme in Uganda, whose main objective is to promote ICTs for rural development. She has been involved in a number of ICT undertakings with Uganda Communications Commission , International Telecommunications Union, World Bank, NTCA-Washington, University of Guelph and AITEC. She has for the last five years been directly involved in ICTs for Development projects. She has a Masters degree in Entrepreneurship Development and Management from Potchefstroom University, in the Republic of South Africa.

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PAIK, Young-Joo

Young-Joo Paik have been working for the women's informatization at the Korean Women's Development Institute since 1985. She have been involved in the management of women's information resource center and in the development of women's information systems such as "National Women's Information System" based on women's information network among women's policy divisions at central and local governments, "Korean Women's History System," a regional website on women and science & technology, called "Gender Equality through Science and Technology: Regional Cooperation in North-East Asia (GEST)," etc. Ms. Paik have had an experience on the IT training for the members of women's groups. And she conducted "A survey of Demands on Online Professional IT Education for Women." Ms. Paik got Ph.D in library and information science from Chungang University, Korea, with "A Study on the Women's Information System in Korea: Focused on the User Demands and the Information Network." Young-Joo Paik is the Senior Fellow and Director of Information Cooperation Department at the Korean Women's Development Institute.

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RAMILO, Chat

Chat Garcia Ramilo has been specializing in gender, information and communication technology and women's electronic networking for the last seven years. Chat is involved in local, regional and global initiatives and work as a Project Manager for the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP). As project manager, she manages APC's Gender Evaluation Methodology project. The Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) for ICT initiatives and ICT evaluation is an innovative gender analysis tool produced by the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) for practitioners who share a commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment in ICTs. Ms Ramilo has also worked as a gender and ICT consultant for UNIFEM, UNESCAP and CIDA. She also coordinated the Asian Women's Resource Exchange (AWORC), a regional Internet-based women's information service and network, from 1998 - 2001. In the Philippines, Ms Ramilo leads a new organization called Womenshub that is currently conducting a gender policy review of ICT policies in the Philippines and developing ICT services for Filipino women.

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SEYE SYLLA, Fatimata

With a baccalaureat in mathematics, Ms Fatimata SEYE SYLLA is a M.I.T./ Media Lab Master of Science with a first university degree from Le Havre University (France) on Computer Science. She has a post-graduate management degree from the African regional school in Dakar. She has attended many training sessions in computer science: data base management, computers in education, web design, internet, multimedia, networking. After working for ten years within the Senegalese government as a project manager, she's presently the General Manager of Solutions 3+, a computer service company in Senegal. She is also the founding President of Bokk Jang association, a founding member of OSIRIS and ISOC associations in Senegal. As an international consultant for UNESCO, UNFPA, UNECA, ITU, USAID and IDRC, she has set up computer systems and trained users. She has conducted research in the field of Information and Communication Technologies use in Education, gender and development and has written several papers in the same field; some of them are published.

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TARASIEWICZ, Malgorzata

Malgorzata Tarasiewicz is the Executive Director of Network of East-West Women Polska (Since 2000) and a Board member of Network of East-West Women (she is a founder of NEWW). She was a Coordinator of the International Criminal Court Project in Polish Amnesty International and a regional (Central and Eastern Europe) contact person for the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court. Between 1990 and 1995 a Chairperson of Amnesty International Poland (the first three terms of the organization's existence in Poland). 1989 - 1991 National Coordinator of Women's Section of "Solidarity" Trade Union. From 1986 to 1989 an active member of "Freedom and Peace" underground, oppositional (to the communist regime) social movement.

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