Progress report for
EQUALS: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age
Achievement at a glance
EQUALS is helping to bridge the gender digital divide by linking up efforts of governments, business, civil society, academia and others through coalitions on ICT access, skills and leadership and a research group for greater impact and reach. It has acquired more partners, formalized its governance and working methods, developed work plans and begun work on deliverables. It has mapped over 500 initiatives around the world and thus raised awareness of what already exists and where the gaps are through the EQUALS Action Map (www.equals.org/actionmap). Partners are comparing notes and doing deeper dives to identify possible overlaps and synergies and teaming up on projects of common interest. EQUALS has also raised visibility of successful initiatives and women in tech through the EQUALS in Tech awards (www.equals.org/awards). It has helped its partners access information, make new connections and find new partners. It has also held outreach activities in several countries to raise awareness of the gender digital divide and how to address it and has provided regular opportunities for its partners to share and learn together at in person meetings and on regular coalition calls.Challenges faced in implementation
More resources are needed to take the EQUALS partnership to the next level, to keep up with demand and support the new forms of collaboration that it is fostering.Beneficiaries
The ultimate beneficiaries are women and girls who currently lack ICT access, equal opportunity to acquire ICT skills, and/or equal opportunity in workplaces in the tech as employees, leaders and entrepreneurs. The intermediaries are organizations with initiatives in these areas who gain information, new ideas, new connections, new platforms and communications channels, and new partners to help them be more effective, efficient, impactful and have greater reach.