Presse release : UN Women's mobile learning platform iLearn accessible for free to the women of South Africa

(1 July, Pretoria) – From this week onwards UN Women’s global mobile-learning platform for women entrepreneurs, iLearn, will be more accessible to the women of South Africa. The iLearn platform is one of the free basic services on the Internet.org app that launched in South Africa today.

The iLearn initiative provides a platform for women entrepreneurs to tell their stories in their own words – enabling them to share their experiences and inspire other women. iLearn features women’s own stories ‘behind the business plan’; how they arrived at success and the challenges they faced. Contributors also share their motivation, personal drive, and the knowledge and skills they acquired to evolve in business.

“We believe that technology can be a game-changer for women and girls – in particular for women entrepreneurs. South African women can now access business success stories, business tips and other resources directly from their mobile devices for free when they access UN Women’s iLearn platform through the Internet.org app,” said Dr Auxilia Ponga, Representative of UN Women South Africa Multi Country Office.

This initiative is one of many UN Women is undertaking to advance women’s economic empowerment and support women entrepreneurs in South Africa, particularly from a technology perspective. Recently UN Women and Facebook hosted two “Boost Your Business” workshops for more than 400 women entrepreneurs, where attendees networked and received advice on growing their businesses. They were also invited to join UN Women’s Empower Women online community.

Earlier this year through UN Women’s strategic partnership with Intel Corporation on the Intel® “She Will Connect” programme, a four day digital training workshop was held as part of a broader goal to reduce the digital gender gap. Adopting a train-the-trainer model, 48 women acquired skills and then returned to their communities to share learnings with other women entrepreneurs.

Enhancing women’s economic empowerment is one of the five priority areas of UN Women’s work and is a particular focus in South Africa where men are more likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activity than women.

ENDS

For further information or requests for interviews, please email Ayanda Mvimbi. For further information on the Empower Women community, please see www.empowerwomen.org. The iLearn content is also available for women not utilising the internet.org app through the Empower Women online community.