Economy
THE United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) stated that gender equality was a fundamental human right.
The Executive Secretary, UNECA, Antonio Pedro said this at the Seventh Connected African Girls Coding Camp, Niamey, Niger.
The coding camp was organised by UNECA as part of the ongoing Ninth Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.
The theme of the forum is “Accelerating development and diffusion of emerging technologies for a green, inclusive and resilient Africa”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that globally, gender remained the main factor of disparity between men and women students graduating in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
NAN also reports that the existing digital gender gap in Africa needed improvement and needed to accelerate digital transformation initiatives by enhancing the participation of young people in STEM.
Pedro, however, said the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector played a pivotal role in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as stipulated in the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.
The acting executive secretary also said gender equality catalysed multiple effects on socio-economic development.
“Nearly 90 per cent of jobs in the near future will require skills related to new technologies. It is unthinkable that in Africa, the digital revolution will take place without young people and women.
“For this very reason we have launched the Connected African Girls Initiative which aims to reduce the digital gender gap.
“By equipping young African women with the necessary basic skills to achieve long-term success in digital education, employment, and entrepreneurship, while creating an enabling environment for collaborative efforts and innovation.”
Moreover, he said ongoing efforts at the commission included accelerating digital transformation, building on Africa’s countries’ vision to implement their national digital transformation strategies.
He also said UNECA’s plan was to advance Agenda 2063 through initiatives such as the Connected African Girls Coding Camp.
Pedro also explained what entailed in the coding camp in Niger.
“Through these camps, 108 Nigerien girls between the ages of 12 to 25 received training in person, and over 4,500 participated virtually.
“The camp trained the girls in technical disciplines ranging from web development, gaming, robotics, artificial intelligence and 3D printing as well as soft skills, like leadership, public speaking, climate action, and gender equality, UN SDGs, and Agenda 2063.
“Today Nigerien trainees have produced 25 projects and created impressive digital innovations to tackle local sustainability issues, using what they have learnt in the span of only one week.
“I am delighted to announce that 25 girls, will be recognised for demonstrating exceptional skills in robotics and Internet of Things, animation, gaming, web development, 3D printing and Turtle Stich.”
He further said the projects addressed issues around conflict, safety and security, climate change, agriculture, education, road safety, water and sanitation, child marriage, among others.
Pedro also said the commission’s Connected African Girls initiative was to create confident women who were self-aware, eager to learn about their communities, and capable of leading the changes in their communities.
“Coding has become the new literacy! Hence, Nigerien women and girls need to become digitally savvy and active participants in shaping Niger’s digital future.”
Also speaking, Anne-Rachel Inné, Regional Director for Africa, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said it was important to have women in STEM to promote UN SDG 5 on gender equality and women empowerment.
Inné also said the women would have to take sustainable solutions to their communities that are simple and understandable.
“Most of our populations in general are 60 per cent to 80 per cent rural. So if you are going to take technology, that does not mean anything to them, then you have a problem in appropriation, and you have a problem in making it work and sustainable, especially.”
“We make them sustainable so that they can really be something that might be able to generate revenue for those young people.”
One of the participants at the coding camp, Fatoumata Zakaria, First Master Degree in Law, Esimad Academy, said the event consisted of the creation of a project in specific assigned areas.
“The event has several themes. There is robotics, web development, scratch and turtle stitch (a term used for the project) and 3D printing.
Zakaria also said each of the participants won iPads.
-(NAN)
KN
Tags: Antonio Pedro UNECA
