Nancy Hafkin is a pioneer of networking

Computer network

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....

 and development information and electronic communications in Africa, spurring the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) from 1987 until 1997. Nancy Hafkin played a central role in facilitating the Association for Progressive Communications

Association for Progressive Communications

The Association for Progressive Communications is an international network of organizations that was founded in 1990 to provide communication infrastructure, including Internet-based applications, to groups and individuals who work for peace, human rights, protection of the environment, and...

's work to enable email

Email

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

 connectivity in more than 10 countries during the early 1990s, before full Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

connectivity became a reality in most of Africa. The APC (headquarters in Johannesburg) established the annual Nancy Hafkin Prize for innovation in information technology in Africa which recognises outstanding initiatives using information and communications technology (ICTs) for development.

Nancy Hafkin edited Cinderella or Cyberella?: Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society, which was published in 2006 - a collection of essays discussing ways that information and communications technologies empower women.