WOMEN WEAVE THE WEB :

WOMEN WEAVE THE WEB CAMPAIGN BY GLADYS SHUMBAMBIRI
What tools, resources, and trainings would you like to have access to in order to feel more comfortable using the Internet?
-Ipads
-Iphones
-Mac book computers which are more efficient
-Training on using the social media for marketing your business

-Training on the use of tools such as skype for business meetings

• What challenges do you, and women in your community, face when learning to use the Internet? How have you overcome them?
-In Zimbabwe there is a challenge of power outages which pose a big challenge especially when using internet at the office and in the home. But this I have overcome by being able to access the internet from my mobile phone and thus can continue with my work regardless of power outages. You just have to make sure that your mobile phone is fully charged. Of which Econet has managed to solve this by having solar lights which can also be used for charging your mobile phone.
-There is also a challenge of congestion on the network at times which causes the internet to be very slow.
-Some women do not even know how to use a computer and some do not know how to use the mobile phones to access internet.
Some women face challenges of buying enough airtime and data to access the internet from their mobile phones.

-Internet is available at hot spots where some women are not allowed to visit by their spouses.
-In rural areas especially, these wifi and hot spot facilities are not readily available.
-Internet connection is still very expensive for most women entrepreneurs as the service providers charge high fees. Very few ordinary women and even men in the country are able to have internet connection in their homes. The majority access this service at work, schools and colleges.

• Have you helped train others on Internet use and digital literacy? How did you do it?
-At my work place I have helped my subordinates on using the Internet and other mobile devices.
-At our work place we use wifi from the Tel-One, one of the biggest landline providers in the country to access internet. The subordinates have been trained on how to use the internet for improving our work processes. We can now even use the mobile phones when there are power outages and it makes our work to continue.
-At my work we deal with market women, by giving them micro loans to boost their businesses. So we hold meetings with them and when we started this group lending program, some of these market women did not know how to use mobile technology. So as an organization we registered to be an Agent of Econet Wireless one of the biggest mobile telecommunications provider.By being an agent we facilitate mobile transactions. And as such we have trained our market women groups on the use of this mobile technology to do their mobile transactions where they can send their payments through the mobile phone and this helps them to cut transport costs as they can just send in their payments from where they are. So this mobile technology platform is working well and enhancing our business and that of our women clients. So we managed to train them.

We have also done a website for our company where our clients can make online applications instead of coming to the office to do paperwork. This we have also shown interested clients on how to do online applications.