| The term "digital divide" refers to the socioeconomic and other disparities between those people who have opportunities and skills enabling them to benefit from digital resources, especially the Internet, and those who do not have these opportunities or skills. For example, due to high poverty rates and slowing economic development, many people in several West African countries miss out on the benefits of shared information due to limited access to digital technology, particularly those of the ECOWAS region (Economic Community of West African States; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo). However, several non-profit organizations such as FilmAid, Witness and Digital Democracy have sprung up to try and break through this "divide" in developing countries around the world. They do this by empowering local communities with life saving information using alternative methods; like text message and movie screenings, training individuals on simple technology and sharing the stories from these communities with the world through social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Similar techniques can be used in West Africa to empower the community, despite the digital divide.;*The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975. Its mission is to promote economic integration in all fields of economic activity, particularly industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters (ECOWAS in Brief). |
