Kenya — The inadequate representation of women in Kenya's governance structures is attributed to a variety of factors, most important of which is the limited or access to resources that would enable women to participate in governance. Isaiah Kipyegon writes that information and knowledge are crucial resources that could be harnessed by women to turn around their participation in governance processes.

"Information and governance are very closely linked. Information and knowledge are the basis of informed decision-making ..." - African Centre for Women in Information Communications Technology (ACWICT)

Gender disparities in access to and control of information and knowledge reflect the general disparity between men and women: "This variance further reflects the general inequalities between men and women in terms of access to other development resources and opportunities," says ACWICT's executive director, Constantine Obuya.

Ms. Obuya was speaking during information, communication technologies (ICTs) seminar for organisations involved in gender and governance activities recently. An anticipated outcome of the training is to bridge the inequalities between men and women in governance by adopting an e-governance strategy.

This is a component of the on going Gender and Governance Programme (GGP). The strategy is aimed at strengthening women's participation in governance and political processes using ICTs.

Two of the most important resources produced by the E-governance strategy are the programme website and the Virtual Resource Centre. The website's main use is to serve as an electronic delivery channel for GGP. It also serves as a platform for producing, updating and disseminating materials and information for advocacy. The Virtual Resource Centre on the other hand will contain documents and publications from GGP and partners' activities. All these are found online at www.gendergovernancekenya.org <http://www.gendergovernancekenya.org/>

Other information and communication tools available under the website include public and private mailing lists, discussion forums, chat rooms and electronic newsletters. It is designed to enable the partner organisations in the GGP to understand and effectively use these electronic communication tools, and to give a deeper understanding of the web portal and how best they can utilise it to advance the goals and objectives of GGP.

The participant made suggestions on how to improve the website, including moderated and coordinated discussion forums, chat rooms and regular submission of information, reports, articles and other documents for posting.

Speaking during the training, Lucy Githaiga, Action Aid International Kenya's GGP coordinator hoped that the partners would make good use of the available portal.

However, there were concerns regarding the availability of internet services in rural areas and the fact that not all the partners have sufficient knowledge to enable them utilise the website and other e-resources. It was nevertheless reported that already there are many internet points provided by Kenya Postal Services Corporation throughout the country. Moreover, plans are underway by the government to provide more of these services in every district.

"Those who have attended this training should make an effort to also take other partners and colleagues through the training process to enable them to utilise this resource," said Githaiga.

As a contribution to the running of the website, the participants were urged to submit documents, activity reports and news or features articles to be posted on the website. They were also asked to take a leading role in the discussion forums and chat rooms as well as the list serve.