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Memorandum of Understanding with the National Communications Authority – NCA, South Sudan

Memorandum of Understanding with the National Communications Authority – NCA, South Sudan

by | May 6, 2023 | Career Guidance, Girls Coding, GoGirls Mentors, Projects, School Competition and Activities, Sponsorship

GoGirls ICT Initiative Inks a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Communications Authority – NCA, South Sudan, to Celebrate the International #GirlsinICT Day 2023.

On 17th March 2023,GoGirls ICT Initiative and National Communications Authority – NCA, South Sudan were excited to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of national committment to bridge the digital gender divide in South Sudan and is anchored on International Girls in ICT Day event, held every year on the 4th Thursday of April, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) global initiative. It encourages young women and girls to pursue careers and studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics #STEM, particularly ICT.

NCA as the government agency mandated with advancement of digital technologies and innovation in SS is proud to undertake this partnership that places young women and girls at the centre of the digital transformation in South Sudan.

GoGirls ICT’s focus is on mentorship in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) related topics leveraging more on Open Source resources to create an Open Culture in South Sudan.

This partnership will combine GoGirls ICT’s expertise in the mentorship of girls and women in #STEM with NCA’s mandate to bridge the digital gender divide in South Sudan. Before signing the MoU, both parties had this to say to the media house and the audience present in the room.

“Today is historical to us because in this very room is where we celebrated the first ever #GirlsinICTDay2015 in #SouthSudan.Being women’s month and as we continue to celebrate International Women’s Day 2023: #IWD2023 under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”,this moment and MoU is very historical.” said Eva Yayi, Executive Director of GoGirls ICT Initiative.

“This collaboration, one of many partnerships, marks the start of phase 2 of the NCA’s flagship #GirlsInICTProgramme and will focus on mentorship of high school female students (13-17 years) with practical and usable skills starting with schools in Juba as a pilot and to be scaled to other 10 states and 3 Administrative Areas of South Sudan,” said Napoleon Adok,Director General of NCA.

GoGirls ICT Initiative Partners With Akirachix To Engage More Girls in ICT

GoGirls ICT Initiative Partners With Akirachix To Engage More Girls in ICT

by | Sep 22, 2021 | Blog, Career Guidance, Girls Coding, Job Search, Our PJects, Projects, School Competition and Activities, Sponsorship, Tech News, Women & ICT

GoGirls ICT Initiative Partners With Akirachix To Engage More Girls in ICT

For the past five years, we have been implementing the Time To shine Information Communication Technology (#TTOSICT) mentorship program that aimed at Engaging, Educating, and Empowering youth, especially girls in primary and secondary schools to spark their interest in doing science at the secondary level and increase their chances of doing courses in the fields of  Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics with the integration of Arts  (STEAM). As a result of these efforts, the girls who were involved by then at the age of 11 years old in Primary Five have now joined secondary schools within Juba, and those in Secondary completed their South Sudan School Certificate in 2019. Most of these girls too were beneficiaries of our GoGirls Sponsorship Initiative to support them in school for one year as long as they continued to participate in this program.

To encourage and keep these girls engaged in this program throughout, we reached out to their schools, families, and communities through the Family Visit Program that has become an integral part of all our projects and programming.

One of the most common questions raised by the teachers, families, and communities of these girls is: “what is next for them after secondary school especially to parents who are economically challenged and girls who are vulnerable?.” To answer this question; GoGirls ICT Initiative has collaborated with Akirachix to put synergies together so as to support girls who have completed their South Sudan Secondary school certificates in 2019 to be part of their AkiraChix codeHive 2022 recruitment program.

AkiraChix was founded in 2010 by a group of women who were passionate about changing the landscape of the technology field and creating a community that supports, connects, and inspires women in the tech space. These young women challenged the status quo by encouraging and facilitating more women to take up careers in technology-related fields. Its vision has continued to be led by Linda Kamau and Marie Githinji, who have committed to champion the diversity and inclusion of women in the technical workforce, changing the economic capabilities of young women as well as shifting societal norms. AkiraChix has come a long way from its beginnings, where it trained young women from Nairobi in a bus fitted with computers to a fully-fledged residential campus to serve young women from all over Kenya and other African Countries. Read more about AkiraChix: https://akirachix.com/

codeHive is the AkiraChix signature program. It is a one-year fully subsidized residential hands-on technical training program. It provides education and economic opportunity to young women between the ages of  19 and 24  from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have completed high school education, and are unable to further their education due to financial constraints.  

After expanding from Kenya to Rwanda and Uganda in 2021, AkiraChix will also expand to Tanzania and South Sudan in 2022. It is also seeking promising young women from refugee communities across these countries. 

According to Women in Technology statistics, Women currently remain highly underrepresented in software engineering (14% of the total workforce) and computer science-related jobs (25% of the total workforce). Female software engineer hires have only increased 2% over the last 21 years.

Through this collaboration, GoGirls ICT Initiative is one of the approved Test Centers that will provide the applicants with dedicated computers and internet to apply for this program and also use their networks to help Akirachix reach more young women to build careers in technology in South Sudan to transform their lives and communities. We constantly commit to breaking societal barriers limiting girls from doing careers in ICT and continue contributing to bridging the gender digital divide gap. Such opportunities and exposure are what these girls need. The fact that South Sudan Joined the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) as its 49th member state presents vast opportunities in this sector that we want more women and girls in South Sudan to be part of the decision making and implementation of technology-related projects.

For more details on the application process visit www.akirachix.com/apply

Application Deadline: October 15th, 2021 11:59 PM EAT

Please visit our office: 

88.4 City FM Compound, Suk Melisia, Munuki –  Juba, South Sudan.

Reach us through:

Email: application@gogirlsict.org 

Mobile: +211922407200

Facebook: GoGirls ICT Initiative

Twitter: @gogirlsictjuba

Instagram:@gogirlsictinitiative

Repair Cafes

Repair Cafes

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Career Guidance, Girls Coding, GoGirls Mentors, Projects, School Competition and Activities, Sponsorship

Repair cafes

Objectives

  • To build the capacity of teachers on hands on- practices by repairing their devices.
  • To support teachers by repairing their devices to keep preparing learning materials for students and when schools resume to give students a platform to practice and learn ICT skills.
  • To promote open documentation and create an open culture within schools and their surrounding communities.
  • To give a platform for university students / graduates who will be part of these activities to practice their skills.
  • To promote open collaborations among hubs such as Platform Africa and Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF) in Uganda and Ataka Hub and Junub Open Space in South Sudan.

Description:

 The outbreak of the COVID-19, with a lot of restrictions, affected schools; schools plan for other alternative ways to deliver lessons to keep students learning at home. 

However, many schools and teachers face challenges with their devices like computers, phones and speakers having broken down, not being functional and the cost of fixing these devices are expensive thus, many can’t afford.

Electronic waste is a major problem because most of it is toxic. Simply throwing electronics away contributes to serious economic problems, both by producing that waste and because it wastes the resources that went into producing the device in the first place. That means that it increases the demand for mines, which pollute the environment, and more energy gets wasted in the manufacturing process. Repairs consume far fewer resources, which makes them much better for the environment.

The repair café activities in Juba by GoGirls ICT Initiative is to support schools that are beneficiaries of its activities and their surrounding communities with their electronic devices being fixed to promote a repair culture in Schools as means to inspire more girls in secondary schools to do STEM courses when they join University.