WiDEF offers enterprises support to close digital gender divide

The Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) has launched a second competitive round offering technical assistance to private sector enterprises – including those in Africa – to help close the digital gender divide.

The fund was announced by the US White House in March 2023, as a joint effort between USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate progress on closing the digital gender divide. The fund is managed by CARE, Global Digital Inclusion Partnership and the GSMA Foundation.

The second round is inviting applications from large private sector enterprises seeking technical support to scale products, services or approaches that can significantly increase women's access to and usage of the Internet.

It follows WiDEF's first round of funding and support that closed on May 6, 2024, for local organizations.

WiDEF will provide successful applicants in countries where USAID operates – which includes most countries in sub-Saharan Africa – with tailored technical assistance for up to two years valued in the range of US$50,000 to US$150,000.

This support will be provided by the WiDEF Consortium and third-party suppliers engaged by WiDEF.

WiDEF aims to ensure all women and girls have equitable and affordable access to digital technology, which it believes spurs economic growth, improves development outcomes and has the power to lift millions out of poverty.

The $60 million project identifies, funds and accelerates evidence-based solutions to close the digital gender divide, improving women's livelihoods, economic security and resilience.

"From our experience, we have seen how the right technical assistance can truly help companies unlock impact at scale. Through this new round, we believe we can deepen the private sector's contribution to the closing of the gender divide across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), in line with the GSMA Foundation's unwavering commitment to addressing this challenge," said Max Cuvellier Giacomelli, head of Mobile for Development at the GSMA.

The digital gender divide

According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were 244 million more men than women using the Internet in 2023.

Percentage of female and male population using the Internet in 2023. (Source: ITU)

In LMICs, mobile phones are the primary and often only way people go online, especially women, and the GSMA's Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024 showed that the gender gap in mobile Internet adoption across LMICs narrowed for the first time in three years, from 19% in 2022 to 15% in 2023.

In 2023, women in sub-Saharan Africa were found to be 32% less likely than men to use mobile Internet, an improvement from 34% in 2017.

Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at the GSMA, recently told Connecting Africa that the top barriers preventing women from adopting and using mobile Internet are mobile Internet awareness, handset affordability, literacy and digital skills, and safety and security concerns.

She also advocated for the collection of gender-disaggregated data which is crucial for measuring the gender gap and informing investments and action to address it.

"Much more data is needed to understand women's needs and the barriers they face, especially in different contexts and among specific groups to ensure targeted action," she said.

Technical assistance on offer

WiDEF said that the technical assistance on offer aims to help to unlock opportunities to significantly close the digital gender divide, rather than supporting an enterprise's ongoing "business as usual" activities.

The kind of technical support includes:

Research into the principal barriers and needs of underserved segments of women to inform actions to better support them to access and use digital technology and the Internet

Evaluation of existing products and services for women to inform their evolution and wider usage

Testing specific approaches and services to ensure they best meet the needs of underserved women

Product adaptation and iteration, including the analysis of service usage data, user feedback and further design research

Business modelling and support for scaling products and services

The US$60 million Women in the Digital Economy Fund identifies, funds and accelerates evidence-based solutions to close the digital gender divide. (Source: Image by freepik).

WiDEF aims to support commercially sustainable, scalable and evidence-based solutions to help close the digital gender divide.

Successful applicants will need to articulate how their solution, and the technical assistance they draw on, will address at least two of the following core priority areas for WiDEF:

Improved access to affordable devices and online experiences

Increased availability of relevant products and tools

Elevation of digital literacy and skills

Enhancement of safety and security

Additionally, all applications will need to generate insights and data that expand the collection and use of gender-disaggregated research and analysis.

Applications are due by September 12, 2024 and the full eligibility criteria and the application process can be found here.

Follow Connecting Africa on our new X account @connect__africa to get the latest telecoms and tech news across Africa.

Earlier this month, The GSMA, World Bank, and key members of the telecoms ecosystem launched a coalition to improve handset affordability for lower-income populations, including in sub-Saharan Africa, which will also aid the closing of the digital gender divide.

*Top image source: Image by DC Studio on Freepik.

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa