UN Ladies and IamtheCODE patner to bridge the gender digital divide in Africa

UN Ladies Regional Workplace for East and Southern Africa  and IamtheCODE have partnered to bridge the gender digital divide in Africa.

Within the simply concluded two-day hackathon in Johannesburg, South Africa which aimed to equip 102 excessive schoolgirls from townships in Gauteng province with digital literacy expertise that give them a head begin in life. The general goal was to advertise younger ladies and women as innovators to advance gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women by way of digital literacy. The hackathon required the women to provide you with revolutionary tech options to any of the 17 Sustainable Growth Targets.

Girl Mariéme Jamme, the CEO and Founding father of iamtheCODE stated: “It is crucial for the long run era to be on the forefront of offering options contextualized for Africa and this digital period offers a possibility to take action”.

 The hackathon was additionally graced by Madam Basetsana Kumalo, a South-African media persona, magnificence pageant title holder and enterprise girl, who inspired the women to be fearless in pursuing their desires regardless of their backgrounds whereas sharing her life experiences as an individual who grew up in Soweto.

Zebib Kavuma, the Deputy Regional Director, UN Ladies Regional Workplace for East and Southern Africa highlighted that the digital divide between women and boys as a key problem leaving ladies and women unable to benefit from the brand new digital world’s alternatives as they’ve a lot decrease entry to know-how than males and boys. In her speech she stated, “you could imagine in your expertise and skill to be leaders within the digital house and make the most of areas corresponding to this hackathon to study and develop”.

On the primary day of the hackathon, the main target was on unpacking the SDGs to offer the younger ladies a greater understanding of the bold targets set by the UN to realize sustainable growth by 2030. The dialogue gave the contributors a greater understanding of what the targets imply for the continent and for South Africa, empowering them to create significant options. Moreover, the mentors, highschool lecturers chosen from faculties in Gauteng province, educated the women on how the coding kits labored and gave them an opportunity to assemble them as a part of studying the exterior and bodily {hardware} elements.

One of many contributors, Thembelihle Nleya stated: “I’ve at all times had a ardour for coding however didn’t have entry. Because of my college I discover myself right here in the present day. I actually get pleasure from taking part in round with computer systems and see myself as a future coder. Over the previous two days I’ve beloved being a part of the hackathon as a result of bought to discover my dream a bit and study concerning the SDGs. These sorts of initiatives maintain us knowledgeable and educated and so they rework us – I want extra women might expertise this.”

The second day had the women geared as much as current and share their revolutionary options to deal with SDG issues by way of App concepts. They had been required to organize a presentation on the SDG of their selection and suggest a digital answer. The learners creatively curated their displays and had an skilled panel of judges appraise their concepts and options. The ladies additionally bought to observe coding utilizing the iamtheCODE kits which enhanced their understanding of how coding works.

The hackathon concluded with the judges saying the three profitable groups with the primary group being the yellow crew. The hackathon concluded with all the women receiving reward hampers to have a good time their studying and achievements. The partnership between UN Ladies and iamtheCODE consists of empowering younger ladies and women in Africa by altering their profession trajectories and constructing STEM competencies and engagement from their communities, by way of the iamtheCODE digital platform, hackathons, mentoring and tailor-made applications. UN Ladies will proceed to discover further areas of collaboration with iamtheCODE to advance younger ladies and woman’s expertise in digital literacy.

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