Purpose: Enhancing men’s and women’s earning potential by increasing digital skills, access to information and connectivity with the global marketplace.

Timeline: 3 month pilot in Afghanistan in 2013.

Beneficiaries: 26 students were equipped with tablets and a total of 90 individuals took part in the pilot; target 3,600-9,000 predominantly female participants in Afghanistan & Pakistan over 3 years

Goals: 

1. To empower women in post-conflict and developing countries by providing the means to accelerate their learning, increase economic independence with the potential to boost their incomes, and connect with each other and the outside world without the need to leave their homes
2. To support men in post-conflict and developing countries by providing the means to accelerate their learning, increase their earnings with the potential to boost household incomes, and promote stability 

Activities:

• Obtain open-source, low-cost, internet-enabled tablets and wireless transponders.
• Customize tablets for operation in Dari, Pashto, or Urdu as appropriate and pre-load them with relevant business and literacy applications.
• Provide entrepreneurs with tablet computers and training in digital literacy and e-commerce.
• Measure outcomes every 3-6 months.

Results to date:

• Increased economic growth in the form of businesses successfully launched and exports from the community: Pilot participants assisted in the development of the Aayenda Jewelry e-commerce retail and wholesale websites, which are maintained and updated by members of the Aayenda Jewelry Cooperative.
• Improved IT access and usage by women: Half of the pilot participants were women (13/26) and 8 staff members from project partner, the Women’s Annex, were trained in creating m-learning using Ustad Mobile. The Women’s Annex plans to create Dari instruction videos for the applications on Youtube.