A Safari into the Cross Cultural World of Women's Knowledge Exchange.

• Author: Walker, Anne S.

With so much expertise available at Know how, it was a great opportunity for sharing and capacity building amongst participants. There were various themes, from Radio as a Tool for Information Dissemination for Women in Rural areas to Planning, Developing, Implementing, Sharing and Testing a Web Site Using Action Apps.

More than 200 women from 46 countries participated in the Know How conference held from July 22 to 27, 2002 at Makarere University in Kampala, Uganda.

The conference, "A Safari into the Cross-Cultural World of Women's Knowledge Exchange," gathered together specialists in women's information and communication to share strategies and strengthen networks and linkages. Hosted by Isis-Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange (WICCE)/Kampala, in collaboration with Isis International/Manila and International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV)/Amsterdam, the conference was held in conjunction with the 8th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, also known as the "Women's World Congress 2002." Women's World was held from July 21-26, and was hosted by the Department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University.

The Know How Conference was aimed at increasing and improving the visibility of African women's issues and discussing concerns and progress made in information centres, archives and services. It also served as a venue for the sharing of best practices and for the development of a plan of action for generating and sharing information by and with rural women activists.

Know How highlights included a muliti media presentation by Isis International/Manila and Isis-WICCE/Kampala entitled "Isis Journey" that documented the birth of Isis International in Rome. The presentation took the participants through the ISIS journey from the formation of Isis-WICCE in Geneva, to the move of Isis International to Santiago and Manila and of Isis-WICCE to Kampala. The presentation paved the way for the creation of a website that will house the "collective journeys" or unique stories of women's information and communication organisations. It is hoped that women's information and Communications organisations, especially those from the South, can gain more visibility through this planned website, and become a stronger voice in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005).

During the conference, participants went to the village of Nakaseke to visit the...