Background and Activities of the Women Empowerment for Social Change Program

The Women program was initiated by the Open Institute in 2006.

1. Vision

A society in which women contributors and activists will be able to influence change in social development by being well informed, confident to express opinions, and knowledgeable on how to use technology to improve their work and empower other women.

2. Mission

The mission of the Women program is to inform and facilitate discussion on women issues and their rights, and to empower women through the training and strategic use of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

3. Goals

To promote gender equality in a society in which women can exercise their rights in a balanced way and can build competence to become self-sufficient, with improved women's participation in social, economic and political life, by means of:

• Ensuring that the necessary information is made available in the Khmer language and facilitating and fostering communication among gender activists.

• Creating awareness on how ICT can help gender equality.

• Ensuring that women's organizations are competent to teach and use ICT for empowering women.

There are three main activities in the Women program:

1.Women web portal

1.1.Women Forum Meetings http://women.open.org.kh/km/womenforum

1.2.Editorial Advisory Group Meetings http://women.open.org.kh/km/eag-meeting

2.Information Communication Technology training
http://women.open.org.kh/km/ict-training-reports

3.Research on the use of ICT and women

Target Groups:

• Women who are commune council members and government officials.

• Women from women organizations and networks

• Female and male representatives from government and non-governmental institutions whose works related to women's issues.

• Women who are teachers

• Youth: young women and female students

This program can be implemented thanks to the participation and close cooperation from various institutions such as government ministries and institutions, local and international non-governmental organizations and women networks whose works related to women's issues. For more information about Information Providers, please click here http://women.open.org.kh/km/information_sources

The Open Institution plays a coordinating role to facilitate access to information on women's concerns, exchange of ideas and opinions and discussions on women problems.

Donors

This program is financially supported by the Open Society Institute - OSI - and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency - AECI.

Institutions or organizations work on women programs are encouraged and warmly welcomed to participate in our Women program by sharing information related to women, participating in Women Forum Meetings, Editorial Advisory Group Meetings, and electronic discussions by using three communication tools: Blog (http://women.open.org.kh/km/blog), Online Forum (http://women.open.org.kh/km/forum), and Gender Mailing List (http://women.open.org.kh/km/mailing_list). Your participation and feedback is an important factor for the implementation of this program.

What are the benefits that your organizations can get from our program ?

Your organizations will get a lot of benefits such as:

• Having space for disseminating your organizational profile on the Women web portal that makes your organization known especially organizations that do not have websites.

• Having personal blog for posting more organizational informations and activities on Women Web Portal

• Directly participate in sharing and getting informations related to women and development widely

• Participating in electronic discussions on women's issues

• Building capacity in using Information Communication Technology to improve work efficiency by cooperating to mainstream gender equality and to participate in Cambodian social development

• Getting informations related to scholarships and calling for proposals.

For more information about the Women program, please contact:
Ms. Prak Sokhayouk, Project Coordinator
Open Institute
House 19, Street 374
Sangkat Toul Svay Prey I,
Khan Chamkar Morn
P.O Box: 1552
Tel: 023 224821
E-mail: women@open.org.kh
Website of the Open Institute: www.open.org.kh