East Africa: Airtel Africa partners with UN Women
By Nawa Mutumweno – Women farmers in the East and Horn of Africa are poised to benefit from practical information-sharing tools via Airtel’s mobile networks, following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the UN Women and Airtel Africa.
A press release issued by the African Press Organisation on behalf of Bharti Airtel Limited in Nairobi, Kenya on March 1, 2013 says the UN agency will identify the farmers to be covered under this initiative, whilst Airtel will package and deliver the appropriate mobile solutions to support their livelihoods and enhance their efficiency.
Commenting on the partnership, Andre Beyers, the Chief Marketing Officer of Airtel Africa said: ‘’The empowerment of women is essential to economic development, especially in rural and agricultural economies. We are pleased to partner with UN Women and contribute to their agenda of gender equality and empowerment of women by leveraging the possibilities mobile telephony has to offer.’’
Under the agreement Airtel Africa will establish a Farmer’s Information System, which will enable women farmers to access real time information related to weather, changes to the policy environment (such as taxation and regulation), available support services, as well as other areas.
In addition, Airtel will also offer Internet protocol messaging services and closed user groups.
Mobile connectivity gives rural communities access to education, banking facilities and opportunities to increased trade. By connecting rural communities through its mobile networks, Airtel aims to create positive community impact, greater social interaction and opportunities for economic development.
‘’This exciting new partnership will use the power of mobile telecommunications to engage and empower women in rural and urban areas. Working with Airtel, UN Women can reach entrepreneurs faster, through communications platforms as they already own mobile phones. Increasingly, both the public and private sectors recognise that empowering women is smart economics, and that women must be brought to the heart of Africa’s development. We will work closely with Airtel to train women so that they, their families, and the region can reap the benefits of this opportunity,’’ said Christine Musisi, UN Women’s Regional Programme Director for East & Horn of Africa.
The two-year partnership between Airtel and UN Women aims at building the skills, capabilities and resources of women entrepreneurs. Women provide approximately 70 percent of agricultural labour and produce 90 percent of all food, yet do not always share equally in the economic benefits of the industry. Airtel and UN Women are dedicated to helping women farmers enhance their productive capacity and international competitiveness in the countries where they jointly operate.
Airtel believes that entrepreneurship and the development of the private sector are essential to achieving economic development and poverty eradication. Under this agreement, Airtel will also co-finance initiatives and projects promoting the empowerment of women and the girl child.
UN Women is the youngest UN agency. Established in 2010, it is dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. It has five priority areas: ending violence against women; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; increasing women’s leadership and participation; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting.
UN Women East & Horn of Africa’s mandate includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top four mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.
In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV,DTH, enterprise services including national and international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel has over 264 million customers across its operations as at end of January 2012.
