Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) A new GSMA study launched today shows that despite progress, the gender gap in mobile internet usage remains substantial, with over 300 million fewer women than men accessing the internet from a mobile device in low- and middle-income countries. Affordability remains the critical barrier to mobile ownership, while lower awareness, as well as a lack of literacy and digital skills, are vital factors preventing women’s mobile internet use. The industry is renewing its commitment to reaching women with digital and financial services to address the persistent mobile gender gap.

The study finds that the mobile internet gender gap has narrowed and 54% of women in low- and middle-income countries now use mobile internet, up from 44% in 2017. However, the underlying gender gap in mobile ownership remains largely unchanged and 165 million fewer women than men own a mobile. The research found that mobile offers essential benefits to users. The majority of male and female mobile owners reported that mobile ownership makes them feel safer, better informed and supports them in their day-to-day lives.

“We are seeing important progress in driving equal internet access for women, but the pace of progress still remains slow. We urge business and government communities to continue prioritising efforts to drive more equal access to mobile technology,” said Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA. “Ensuring digital and financial inclusion for women is critically important, as we know that when women thrive, societies, businesses and economies thrive.”

This year marks two significant anniversaries. It’s been 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and 10 years since the launch of the GSMA Connected Women programme. Today, the GSMA announced the first wave of operators to make or renew their Connected Women Commitment through to 2023. The operators are Graeme phone Ltd. (Bangladesh), Mobi tel (Pvt) Limited – Sri Lanka, Mobile Money Limited (subsidiary of MTN Ghana), Ooredoo Maldives, Orange Finances Mobiles Sénégal (OFMS), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (JIO) India, Robi Axiata Limited (Bangladesh), Safaricom PLC, Turkcell Turkey and Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA Democratic Republic of Congo.

The GSMA introduced the Connected Women Commitment Initiative in 2016 to catalyze action to close the mobile gender gap. Over this time, 39 mobile operators across Africa, Asia and Latin America have made formal commitments to reduce the gender gap in their mobile money or mobile internet customer base by 2020. These operators have already reached more than 35 million additional women with mobile internet or mobile money services, and are driving increased digital and financial inclusion for women.

“We applaud all operators who are partnering with us on this critical initiative and look forward to working together to accelerate digital and financial inclusion for women,” said Granryd.

The GSMA’s Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020 is available at: https://www.gsma.com/r/gender-gap/

Further information on the Connected Women Commitment Initiative can be found at: https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/connected-women/the-commitment/

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) A delegation from Norway visited the Institute for Art and Culture (IAC), Lahore on 5 March, 2020. The delegation were representing the Oslo Mela Festival, an event that introduces artistic and cultural expressions from all over the world including, music, arts and crafts, theatre, and dance. The Mela Oslo was first held in 2001. Today it’s one of Europe’s biggest festivals of its kind. The festival takes place at Rådhusplassen (City Hall Square) a weekend in August.
The delegation included Mr. Khalid Salimi, a Pakistani Norwegian, who is the director of the Mela Oslo. Accompanying him were Mr. Dag Hotvedt and his associates who were visiting Pakistan to learn more about Pakistani Culture and create linkages with relevant institutes and organisations in Pakistan who are active in the field of Cultural Heritage Management. Prof. Sajida Haider Vandal, Vice Chancellor of the IAC introduced its ethos, saying that IAC incorporates a tri-lingual approach, which includes English, Urdu and Punjabi, so the students recognize culture and art education not as a foreign stimulus but the one they are inherently connected with.

Mr. Dag Hotvedt agreed with Prof. Vandal saying that Norwegians were ruled by the Danish and later the Swedes, before they became Norwegian. Hence as a young country Norway had to invent itself and find its own identity, one that is unified but also celebrates the different dialects, art and culture.

He deliberated on the young generation of today and how important it is to be a part of an international movement but also hold on to their traditional cultural heritage at the same time. He also said that art and culture gives the opportunity to create space to have a dialogue about issues that might be hard to talk about for example gender equality, and equal rights for minorities. Prof Sajida agreed with him and said that we celebrate our cultural diversity as a nation, as historically this area has absorbed many cultures. The idea is to learn from each other, build relationships and achieve peace through the projection of art education and increasing ownership of our cultural heritage.

40 Goal girls successfully complete

Vocational training to gain employment opportunities

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Standard Chartered Pakistan, in partnership with Right to Play, hosted a ceremony to recognise girls from underserved areas that have been trained to become future economic leaders in their communities. This initiative is part of the Bank’s leading community investment programme focused on Education, Goal.

Mrs. Shehla Raza, Provincial Minister of Sindh for Women Empowerment was the chief guest at the ceremony.

As part of the Goal programme, ‘Be Independent’ module was launched in 2018, a module that aims to provide practical experience and equip girls to be ready to generate their own incomes by obtaining a job or developing their own micro-enterprise. Since its launch, over 800 young girls have been empowered with vocational skills, employability skills and other essential knowledge to equip this group to become economic leaders in their communities.

Out of the 800, 40 girls were chosen based on their potential to receive vocational training on specific fields such as cooking, baking, pastry making, learning English language, fashion designing, learning how to use Microsoft Excel and Office, photography, to name a few After a year of hard work, 40 of these girls, whom the Bank calls Futuremakers, have completed vocational trainings and some have even earned gainful employment opportunities.

Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, is the bank’s global initiative empowering the next generation to learn, earn and grow through our Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship programmes.

Goal is Standard Chartered’s leading Education programme that falls within the Education pillar of the Bank’s community investment strategy.

Through the Bank’s Goal programme, we aim to empower adolescent girls through a combination of sports and life skills training. The Goal curriculum is based on five training modules that provide with the confidence, knowledge and skills these girls need to be integral economic leaders in their families, communities and societies. In Pakistan, Goal has been running since 2016 through its implementing partner, Right to Play, and has to date empowered over 11,000 girls. In 2019, the programme was expanded to include public schools in Islamabad. As at February 2020, Goal is actively running in 34 schools in Karachi and Islamabad.

Commenting on the ceremony Mr. Shazad Dada, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan said: “I am very proud of these girls who have graduated today through our Goal Employability module. There is massive hidden potential waiting to be unlocked for the youth, specifically girls, across the country. We hope to provide them with the right tools and knowledge that will enable them make informed choices as they move into adulthood, and to empower them to be more active economic participants in their communities. Through this initiative, we hope that these girls become trailblazers for the future generations to become independent and contribute to the Pakistan economy”.

Goal’s training curriculum is based on five modules: ‘Be Money Savvy’ focuses on financial education (how to save, invest and open a bank account); ‘Be Yourself’ imparts effective communication skills; ‘Be Healthy’ builds knowledge on health and hygiene; ‘Be Empowered’ teaches girls how to be confident, authentic and stand up for their rights; and ‘Be Independent’ focuses on providing vocational training to girls to enable them to be financially empowered.