Deutsche Welle to up literacy in women

Dar es Salaam. Germany’s leading media development organisation, DW Akademie, through Women at Web Tanzania (WWT) has launched a pilot project focusing on promoting digital literacy among women in Tanzania.

The project, dubbed ‘Women at Web,’ also aims to address challenges that women encounter online such as cyberbullying, online harassment and other issues related to digital safety.

Addressing reporters during the launch of the project this week held in Dar es Salaam, the project Trainer, Ms Carol Ndosi, asserted that the target was to reach 100 women including university students, professionals and entrepreneurs. She said they were aiming to reach more women as they contemplated how to enhance interventions in the near future.

“We are determined to reach women living in rural areas, uneducated with little or no access at all to technology and the digital world, among others,” she said.

Other groups include women in semi-rural or semi-urban areas, with primary or secondary education who own a phone but don’t have basic digital literacy, she said.

“The last group includes women who are educated, own smartphones and have access to the internet through a laptop, computer or internet cafe,” she explained.

Ms Ndosi further revealed that the project team was also determined to reach men in rural and urban areas, saying some men were also subjected to online harassment.

“We are also contemplating how to train men, although according to data, women are the leading victims of online harassment,” she said.

Speaking at the same occasion, project Advocacy manager Gasirigwa Sengiyumwa asserted that they were also focusing on enhancing advocacy and awareness among East African women.

Mr Sengiyumwa, who is also a representative of Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Tanzania, raised optimism that the project would enable women to explore business opportunities through the internet.

“We are looking forward to encouraging women to spend their time on the internet wisely,” she said.

rather than engaging in unimportant arguments on social media networks,” he said.