This report discusses the work of the Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) small grants fund, which was initiated in 2002 to support work on gender-related issues in ICTs for the African, Caribbean, and Pacific regions. The small grants fund was disbursed to diverse projects in order to counter barriers to women living in rural areas. This document records the process and results, and is intended to contribute to more gender-aware ICT policy advocacy.
The document includes a history of GenARDIS grant making and case studies of both individuals and organisations that have received funding or accessed technology through funded programmes. In September 2002, participants in a meeting referred to as an “observatory” convened by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) formed GenARDIS to empower those addressing a gender-related information and knowledge sharing gap, basing their efforts, in part, on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.