London — In many rural towns and villages in the Commonwealth, citizens have no access to computers. For some, who do not even know what a computer looks like, the Internet is merely an abstract concept. This lack of access to what many consider basic technological tools is a major impediment to development.

In an attempt to bridge the digital divide, more than 60 women entrepreneurs in Kenya's Eastern and North Eastern Provinces are getting a chance to join in the technological revolution through exposure to computers.

A two-week computer appreciation course was completed on 25 August 2003, in Embu, Eastern Province, and a similar course has been started in Garissa, North Eastern Province. The courses have been designed to spread computer literacy at a grassroots level in the rural and remote areas of the country. They are intended to be pilot projects which will then be reproduced throughout the country and, subsequently, exported to other Commonwealth nations.

The courses include basic lessons such as 'the meaning of computer', 'the general use of computers' and 'elementary introduction to the Internet'. The programme is being conducted by the Commonwealth Service Abroad Programme (CSAP), the Ministry of Finance in Kenya and the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO), an umbrella organisation of women's groups throughout Kenya which has more than 2 million members.

Participants in the courses have been given lodging at local schools where the courses are being conducted. The courses have been designed so that every participant will have her own computer for the duration of a course.

MYWO members believe that the skills they learn in the programme will "facilitate much easier ... networking" among the various groups that comprise MYWO. They are also of the opinion that the programme will help to give them "economic empowerment" as, upon completion of the programme, they will be able to use the Internet "to identify local and international markets for their products, thereby eliminating middlemen who buy their products at rock-bottom prices and sell them at exorbitant prices in the international markets."

The Commonwealth Secretariat established the CSAP volunteer scheme to enhance its capacity to meet the short-term technical assistance needs of member governments by deploying highly qualified volunteers to supplement existing technical assistance programmes. Since its restructuring in 2001, the Programme now focuses on bringing the application of new technologies, new ideas and innovative practices to people-centred projects that are designed to impact on large numbers of people.