Document(s) 2 of 22

We want to thank, in the first place, Heloise Emdon, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Acacia Programme Manager, who had the vision to have African women’s information and communication technology (ICT) stories told. We also want to thank Jenny Radloff, Chat Garcia Ramilo and Anriette Esterhuysen, of the Association for Progressive Communications, for conceptualizing the idea of an African ICT gender research network, together with Heloise. We want to thank IDRC for funding us and believing in us. Ramata Thioune and Edith Adera especially have been a source of inspiration and strength.

It has been a privilege to work with the women respondents who have contributed to our understandings of women’s journeys towards empowerment, and what roles ICTs are playing and could play in these. We have been greatly enriched by our research encounters with you. We are thankful to those organizations that created pathways for us to reach the women we needed to speak with.

It is impossible to mention all those who have been assisting us and nurturing us as individuals and as a network. We want to particularly thank Helena Bailey, Leverne Gething, Lois Gibbs, Richard Grant, Nancy Hafkin, Grant Marinus, Tamsine O’Riordan, Nidhi Tandon, Fatima Timjerdine and Tatjana Vukoja. We are grateful to our families and friends for your patience and for putting up with our absences. Your love was the hand on our back as we went forward.

We also want to thank each other for staying true to our passion and each other, taking in our stride the tensions and conflicts which such a diverse collection of people inevitably creates. Our alignment with the purpose we all stand for has been our strength and our convergence.

The GRACE Network

Document(s) 2 of 22