Delegates to a Women`s Mutingati on the Information Society held in Cape Town last week adopted a communiqu'e highlighting the importance of ICT in advancing women`s causes and pledging to support open source software.
Delegates from various governmental and non-governmental organisations from several African countries attended the Mutingati.
The document issued after the event recognised the importance of ICT as a tool to support the empowerment of women. It also said the delegates intended to contribute meaningfully to, and implement the outcomes of, the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Tunis from 16 to 18 November.
The delegates also said they would be active participants in building an inclusive information society at local, national, regional, continental and global level. They would work with institutions of traditional leaders in advocating the use of ICT to address the development needs of their communities and preserve the indigenous knowledge systems.
The communiqu'e added that the delegates would play a role in advocating the use of universal design technologies as a norm and the use of open standards and content including open source software.
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