How do women in Africa and the Middle East use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve their lives? What barriers prevent many African and Middle Eastern women from doing so, and how are they surmounting these barriers?
The Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE) project was initiated in 2005 involving 14 research teams in 12 countries to find answers to questions like these. This stimulated the formation of an African network of gender and ICT researchers. In March 2008 the GRACE project entered a second phase, continuing to involve the network of the research teams in Africa, and introducing the project to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.