FTX in Buenos Aires

This is the first FTX in the south of Latin America and we are already getting good results. 35 women and 10 trainers and facilitators have been working together for 3 days to share their knowledge and skills to strengthen women’s organisations in their work to erradicate violence against women and girls. This FTX is part of the MDG3 project and in Argentina women´s organisations from all over the country have been invited to participate in the national strategy meeting last September and now in this very active and intense FTX.

In the early morning, there were plenary presentations so as to open the debate on gender and ICTs from a feminist perspective. Diana Maffia, a well-known science and technology expert in Argentina, presented the first day on Feminism and technology and Lila Pagola, a digital artist and university professor introduced us to gender and FOSS matters, confronting us with the question around why is it that there are so few women in the FOSS movement. The discussion was very rich and it introduced many of the participants to a communications environment in which they had never been active before.

The results are still to be seen. But all participants have been very enthusiastic about skills learning and sharing in the tracks (audio, video, graphic art and social networking). All of them already recognise that this FTX experience has helped them to leave behind their fears and doubts about using their computers to explore new ICT tools and the internet. They feel that their self-confidence has been enhanced and that they are now ready to go back to their organisations and teach others what they have learnt and use these new ICT skills to communicate their work and their aim to end violence against women and girls.