US tackles African youth gender technology divide
From AFRED SHILONGO in Windhoek, Namibia
WINDHOEK – SOME 100 students have converged in Namibia for an initiative by the United States (US) to impart skills and create opportunities for African high school girls in science, technology, engineering, arts, design and mathematics (STEAM) in Africa.
The fourth Women in Science (WiSci) Girls STEAM Camp started on Sunday and will run until June 29.
The 2018 camp brings together 100 students from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia and the US.
The camp is focusing on enhancing participants’ STEAM skills, crafting their leadership potential and building camaraderie and networks that are set to propel participants to new opportunities.
Campers will have the opportunity to learn coding skills, how to develop mobile applications and more.
Partners including the US Department of State, Girl Up, the Intel Corporation and Google are leading WiSci Namibia.
NASA and World Learning provide additional programmatic support.
The WiSci Girls STEAM camp is part of the US government’s efforts to empower the next generation of female leaders, especially in the STEAM fields.
Previous WiSci Camps were held in Malawi, Peru and Rwanda.
Another camp will be held on August 12-25, in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
It will bring together 100 high school girls from the host country, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the US.
– CAJ News
