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and more than four million text messages were sentto those who signed up for the free healthy pregnancyand safe motherhood information.” 10 It hasalso been reported that the service continues toadd an average of 7,000 registrants weekly. 11 Thisservice is aimed at reducing Tanzania’s maternalmortality rate, which was estimated at 454 deathsper 100,000 live births in 2010 – a figure still higherthan the target of 265 by 2015. 12The mobile revolution in Tanzania is also attractingprojects aimed at improving women’sentrepreneurship. The most recently launched isthe Business Women service run by the Cherie BlairFoundation for Women in partnership with the ExxonMobilFoundation, Nokia and the Tanzania GatsbyTrust. The initiative allows women to access vitalbusiness tips via their mobile phones. 13 Tanzania isthe third country into which Business Women hasbeen rolled out following successful launches in Nigeriaand Indonesia. “When a women subscribes toBusiness Women, she receives a series of messages(one per day) over a 12-month period, containing abroad range of useful entrepreneurship informationtailored to both women and the country in whichshe has subscribed,” notes Matt Strickland, themobile technology programme coordinator at theCherie Blair Foundation for Women. In addition,the foundation is targeting 140 Tanzanian womenentrepreneurs who will receive specialist entrepreneurshiptraining over a two-year period.ConclusionsTechnology, especially mobile telephones and theinternet, can empower women to make positivecontributions to development in their communities.Although there is no reliable information pointingto the number of women accessing the internet,internet use in Tanzania has increased from 4.9 millionusers in 2011 to 5.6 million as of June 2012. Thenumber of mobile subscriptions as of March 2013stood at 27.4 million. In addition, the governmentis constantly trying to boost connectivity in thecountry. It is reported that in October 2012, the Tanzaniangovernment borrowed USD 170 million fromthe Chinese government and raised a further USD80 million to build a vast fibre-optic cable network,stretching 7,500 km in a ring around the country.However, the cost of access for both mobile phonesand the internet is still high. In a country wheregender disparities are high and women’s rights arestill a challenge, there is a need for strong policiesaimed at enabling women to access services viaICTs.Action stepsThere is a need to promote the adoption of innovativetechnologies that can be used to empowerwomen and to encourage entrepreneurship. Theprivate sector needs to become more innovativein developing applications – especially mobile applications– that can be used to reach out to morewomen. Women also need to be encouraged tojoin simple start-up groups that can be used forproviding training in the adoption of technologicaltools.Massive sensitisation on the potential of technologyin empowering women is needed. There is aneed to make simple technological tools availablethat can aid in reaching out to women so that theirvoices can be heard. Awareness campaigns need tobe developed so that women can use technology todemand the fulfilment of their rights. ■10 www.texttochange.org/news/scaled-nationwide-mhealthcampaign-pregnant-women-tanzania11 www.cdcfoundation.org/what/program/mhealth-text-messagingcampaign-tanzania12 tz.one.un.org/index.php/what-we-do/health-and-nutrition13 www.cherieblairfoundation.org/launch-of-business-women-intanzania224 / Global Information Society Watch