UN Trains 100 Nigerian Girls Coding in Niger Republic
At the coding camp hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Niamey, some 100 Nigerian girls between the ages of 12 and 25 are taking part.
The training, according to a statement posted on the UNECA website, was a component of its “Young African Women Connected Coding Camp” campaign.
According to UNECA, the purpose of the program was to increase people’s access to information and communication technology (ICT), give them a solid platform for success in their future work, business creation, or higher education, and create significant collaborations.
The Niger’s Minister of Post and New Information Technologies, Hassane Baraze, stated that it was crucial to promote vocational education, particularly among young ladies.
The training’s facilitator, Mr. Baraze, stressed the significance of operationalizing the abilities needed to inspire the girls’ creativity and inventiveness.
Technological skills can help women escape poverty by giving them access to middle- and upper-level positions.
High-potential women can use it as a stepping stone to advance, and it also closes the gender gap, according to him.
In Niger, 70% of the population lacks access to the Internet, according to Ngone Diop, Director of the UNECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa.
Women, young people, and the elderly are included in this group of people who are not online, according to Ms. Diop.
More than ever, she argued, Africa needed to quicken its efforts in digital transformation by boosting young people’s involvement in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) activities.
Since the initiative’s inception in 2019, according to Jean-Paul Adam, the director of technology, climate change, and natural resources at the UNECA, ECA has trained more than 20,000 young women and girls.
According to Mr. Adam, the UNECA has carried out 239 creative projects and presented 49 awards to the best prototypes created to address the socio-economic problems faced by the continent.
The technological topics covered at this coding camp for Nigerian females include robotics, the Internet of Things, and 3D printing.
As well as project creation, design thinking, and the role of women in STEAM, it also incorporates more general cognitive processes.
The Nigerian government and UN-WOMEN are working together to host the UNECA training.
The eighth iteration of the coding school for young girls in Africa, which began on February 20, is due to come to a close in Niamey, Niger, on March 1.
Many visitors, including members of the Parliament and the Ministers of Women’s Promotion and Child Protection and National Education, Allahoury Zourkaleini and Ibrahim Natatou, attended the event.
