3. Infrastructure expansion: Capital investment in construction of high-capacity telecommunications networks to reach remote and unserved areas; 4. Determine clear and transparent criteria for the development and selection of projects funded from the USF; 5. Establish transparent and open decision procedures for applications and disbursements of USF funds; 6. Support programs to promote public awareness, digital skills and uptake of broadband services to support government service delivery and economic development outcomes; 7. Conduct a review of the outcomes of the USF every 2 years. 5.7 Mainstreaming Gender and Women in ICT 5.7.1 Policy Objectives 1. Ensure that all analysis conducted for the purposes of developing ICT policies and plans integrate gender and gender considerations, from network deployment analysis to universal access strategies and priorities6; 2. Endeavour to improve the availability of gender disaggregated data on access and use of ICT; 3. Involve gender advocates and experts in the policy and planning process from the start to ensure women-centric policy development; 4. Establish time-bound targets to achieve gender equality in access across all areas of policies and plans, from skills building to adoption and use; 5. Consider allocating a percentage of the resources available to support women-centered activities, including resources to promote and support women ICT entrepreneurs, digital literacy training for women and girls, and targeted public access and other projects to support access and use for women and girls; 6. Ensure that all skill building and training programs are developed considering the needs of women and girls across all educational levels. These programs should consider what themes would be most relevant to participants; offer training opportunities for all levels, from basic skills to more advanced coding and design; consider the location of programs and the gender of trainers; 7. Establish quotas to ensure the equal participation of women and other disadvantaged groups in all programs supported by national policies and plans, especially rural and poor populations; 8. Establish a scholarship programme to improve access to training by women. Women are 50% less likely to be online than men, and this gender digital divide looks to be getting worse with time7. The effects extend beyond access (the cost to connect to the Internet, and to afford the devices) to other barriers to women’s access and use of the web which include lack of digital literacy as well as norms and attitudes presenting cultural barriers to the uptake of Internet by women and girls in communities. This divide is impacting how women use and appropriate digital technologies. One ten6 http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/ict2002/reports/Paper-NHafkin.PDF 7 See http://webfoundation.org/2016/10/digging-into-data-on-thegender-digital-divide/ 39