Fatimata Seye Sylla is the director of Senegal's Digital Freedom Initiative,[1] a council member for the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa, and the Senegal National Coordinator of the African Civil Society for the Information Society. She is a former member of the At-Large Advisory Committee for ICANN, where she represented Senegal, and advocated there for greater involvement of the developing world with Internet governance. She also served on the board of the CATIA (Catalyzing Access To ICTS in Africa) initiative,[2] a program that worked to support ICT initiatives and their directors across African countries.[3]
Fatimata Seye Sylla | |
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![]() Fatimata Seye Sylla | |
Alma mater | University of Le Havre Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Best known for championing the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the Senegalese education system; Seye Sylla began the first nationwide program to introduce ICT in Senegalese schools. She has also worked as an Internet access advocate with the United Nations, the Panos Network, and the International Development Research Centre. Her activism in Senegal has also included work with the Internet Society and founding OSIRIS, a pro-ICT initiative.[2]
Seye Sylla was educated at the University of Le Havre, where she earned a degree in computer science; CESAG Dakar, where she earned a degree in Management; and MIT, where she earned a Master of Science.[2] Her writing includes analysis of the difference between boys and girls in how they use ICT and development of methods for attracting more young women to technology and fields where they are underrepresented. These include properly training women and girls via the education system, encouraging women to build websites, involving the government and policymakers, and having telecommunications companies provide discounts as an incentive for women.[4]
References
edit- ^ Coly, Alain Just. "Mme Fatimata Sèye Sylla, Directrice de DFI au Sénégal : "Nous travaillons dans le souci d'assurer une pérennité des solutions"" (in French). Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ a b c "Fatimata Seye Sylla (Senegal)". ICANN. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ "Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA)". Association for Progressive Communications. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ Rathgeber, Eva M., ed. (2000). Gender and the information revolution in Africa ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Ottawa: Internet Development Research Centre. ISBN 9780889369030.
External links
edit- Fatimata Seye Sylla: Not to have others speaking for us on Vimeo. GenderIT.org. Seye Sylla speaking at the Global Internet Governance Forum, Vilnius, Lithuania, September 2010.