The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for ICT for Development, in partnership with the Academy of Public Administration under President of Kyrgyz Republic (APAPKR), and Central Asian Research and Education Network (CAREN) co-organized the CIS Sub-Regional Workshop and the Kyrgyzstan National Launch of Women ICT Frontier Initiative (WIFI) on 24-27 April 2017 at the Academy of Public Administration in Bishkek.
WIFI is APCICT’s flagship ICT capacity development programme for promoting women entrepreneurship. It aims to strengthen the capacity of current and potential women entrepreneurs in Asia and Pacific on utilizing ICT in support of their businesses. The programme also enhances the capacities of government leaders and policymakers to create an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs through appropriate policies and support programmes.
Marking the first sub-regional launch of WIFI in the region, the CIS sub-regional workshop – which was held on 24-26 April 2017 in Bishkek – aims to increase stakeholder buy-in, strengthen engagement and ownership of WIFI national focal partners; and expand the pool of national resource persons who can support the delivery of WIFI at the national level. It will include a Training of Trainers (ToT) in two tracks - for women entrepreneurs and policymakers. The TOT session for women entrepreneurs introduced the key concepts of women's empowerment and entrepreneurship; present challenges faced by women ICT; and the role of ICT in supporting women’s entrepreneurship. The session for policymakers focused on the importance of a gender-responsive government in order create an inclusive and accessible enabling environment for women entrepreneurs.
The CIS sub-regional workshop coincided with the Kyrgyzstan National Launch of WIFI on 27 April 2017. The national launch was attended by around 150 representatives from government ministries including the President’s Office, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Chamber of Commerce, training institutes, civil society, women entrepreneur associations, international organizations, media and other relevant stakeholders in entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment.
About the Women ICT Frontier Initiative (WIFI)
Launched in June 2016, the Women ICT Frontier Initiative is a flagship ICT human capacity development programme of APCICT that aims to create socially and economically-empowered women through ICT-enabled entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific. Capacity building programmes target potential and current women entrepreneurs on how to use ICT in support of their businesses. It also supports policy makers and government officials on creating an enabling policy environment. More information is available at www.unapcict.org/wifi.
