Technology Afterschool Clubs for Girls in Nigeria

Dear friends,

2019 has been a year of some memorable firsts!! W.TEC expanded the Academy in Kwara State to Offa earlier this year and more recently launched in 2 secondary schools in Ogun State.

Over the last 3 months, W.TEC:

• Launched the W.TEC Academy (Technology After School Clubs) in Ogun State

• Launched monthly STEAMHer Series for girls in Lagos

• Girls Voices for Change Participants Receive Awards

• Completed the 2019 She Creates Camp Season & Recorded Highest Number of Participants

• Reached Finalist stage of Girls Voices for Change Multimedia Contest & Other Awards

a.) Launched the W.TEC Academy (Technology After School Clubs) in Ogun State

Our after-school technology club for girls – W.TEC Academy, has commenced classes for the new phase of the program in Ogun State.

The extension of the program to the State for the 2019-2020 school session, started in October 2019 with 2 secondary schools in Yewa North Local Government Council.

Selected female students in Obalaju High School – Joga Orile and at Yewa-Egba High School – Ilaro, will be treated to numerous technology-related workshops. This is aimed at increasing the number of tech savvy girls within the community and inspiring more girls to studying STEM subjects in their schools, thereby closing the STEM gender gap and increasing the socio- economic opportunities for girls and their community.

The Ogun Academy is powered by the Dr. Abi A. Afonja Trust and GlobalGiving community of donors.

Read more: https://wtec.org.ng/w-tec-academy-opens-in-ogun-state/

b.) Launched monthly STEAMHer Series for girls in Lagos

The STEAMHer Series, a monthly STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths) training program for secondary schools has taken-off in Lagos. This is an initiative of the United Nations Information Centre – Lagos (UNIC-Lagos) in conjunction with Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) .

The main objective of this program is to bridge the gender gap in STEAM in Lagos schools. Sessions of the programme will be held once a month for girls at the UNIC Ikoyi office in Lagos and will cover a variety of Science and technology-themed topics.

The STEAMHer Series was officially launched on Wednesday October 30th at the UNIC office. The program was officiated by officials of UNIC, W.TEC and Lafarge Africa. The beautiful event had in attendance 100 girls from eight secondary schools, from Lagos State Educational Districts 3, who were treated to career talks and a small-group mentoring session anchored by female staff from Lafarge Africa Plc.

Learn more about the STEAMHer Series launch: https://wtec.org.ng/w-tec-unic-lagos-launch-steamher-series-program/

c.) Girls Voices for Change Participants Receive Awards

Participants of our Girls Voices for Change Program from Lagos City College, Sabo – Yaba, Lagos were presented with awards from our partners, Girls’ Voices for Change, aimed at supporting their education with study materials.

Girls Voices for Change partnered with W.TEC for the 2^nd year to empower school girls with digital photography skills for them to share their important stories from their communities online.

The programme also collated pictures from all the workshops conducted around the world for an international photo contest. Thankfully, one of our participants from the workshop emerged in a finalist in the top 40 and subsequently finished in the top 5.

Read more: https://wtec.org.ng/w-tecs-participants-of-girls-voices-for-change-contest-presented-gift-awards/

d.) Completed the 2019 Camp Season & Recorded the Highest Number of Participants

The She Creates Camp took place in 4 locations across Lagos, Kwara and Anambra states:

• She Creates Camp, Lagos Island – July 29 to August 9 with 17 girls

• She Creates Camp, Lagos Mainland – August 19 to 31 with 50 girls

• She Creates Camp, Awka, Anambra State – August 26 to September 6 with 17 girls

• She Creates Camp, Ilorin, Kwara State – August 26 to September 6 with 19 girls

Across all 4 camps, we had 103 girls participating – up 29% from 2018. The girls learned Digital Electronics & Circuitry, Mechatronics, Python Programming, Computing Fundamentals, Website Design, Mobile Phone Repair, Digital Photography, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things. The girls also benefited from Gender & Leadership workshops, Career Presentations, Excursions to Technology-focused companies and participated in Team-Based Projects.

Partners for this year’s camp include Oracle, SAGE Foundation, Laureates College – Lagos, Kiddies Kingdom Private School, Roboton Robotics, Chris Ogunbanjo Foundation, Hadassah STEM Millenial Foundation, Swift Networks Ltd., Kenneth Dike eLibrary – Awka, Anambra State, Kwara State Ministry of Education, Queen Elizabeth School – Ilorin, African Women Global Technology Initiative, FGGC Sagamu Alumni, Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation, The Wellbeing Foundation, Roboton Robotics Academy & Bestman Games, Devamplify, Edufun Technik and YOU.

We deeply thank everyone who is receiving a copy of this newsletter, because it means that you have also provided financial support for our programmes.

You can read more about the camps online: https://wtec.org.ng/w-tec-holds-its-12th-girls-she-creates-camp/

e.) Awards Galore for W.TEC

2019 has been a phenomenal year of recognition for W.TEC as we have won some prestigious awards and be shortlisted for others.

We have won:

• The inaugural NEDIS Recognition Awards in the Gender-focused education intervention category for our work on the She Creates Camp. The NEDIS Recognition Award for Innovation in Education which is designed to identify and recognise innovative solutions within the education space that addresses identified problems of access, equity and quality in the education sector.

Read more: https://www.tepcentre.com/awards/

• NIRA Presidential Awards: The .ng Presidential Awards are special awards presented by the President of NiRA to individuals and organisations for their contributions to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) and the growth of the .ng brand. The awards promote the Nigerian businesses, individuals, charity, public and private sector organizations which help to make the Internet a more secure, accessible and rewarding experience.

Read more: https://www.nira.org.ng/pdf/2019.ngAwards_winners.pdf

• GlobalGiving October 2019 Project of the Month Award: We are honored to have our She Creates Camp, selected as “Project of the Month by GlobalGiving – the world’s largest crowd funding community.

The Project of the Month recognition is given to projects with a high-impact on their target communities and which actively demonstrate a high level of effectiveness and engagement with the GlobalGiving community. Selected projects must have in the past provided regular high-quality, substantive, and informative project reports to donors and have the capacity to absorb the generous funding from Project of the Month gifts.

We say a big THANK YOU to GlobalGiving and the entire GlobalGiving community for this big honour. We also say a big thank you to you, our steadfast supporter. W.TEC would not be able to carry out its mission if it were not for your financial and in-kind donations. Thank you for making our work possible.

Read more about our big win: https://wtec.org.ng/shecreates2020-wins-project-of-the-month-status-on-globalgiving/

We have emerged as finalist for:

• EQUALS in Tech Awards: The annual EQUALS in Tech Awards is organized and presented by the EQUALS Global Partnership – a network of 90+ organizations, companies, UN agencies, and research institutions. The Awards recognize groundbreaking initiatives from around the world aimed at bridging the gender digital divide.

W.TEC emerged as finalist in the Skills category: https://twitter.com/equals/status/1192488858811863041

• Girls Voices for Change Contest: One of W.TEC’s students made it to the finalist stage of the Girls Voices for Change contest in the Photography category. From hundreds of talented girls in 20 countries, she was one of the outstanding finalists of the contest and emerged in the top 5 for the Digital Photography category.

The #girlsvoicesforchange photography contests is a follow-up of the global partnership programme by @girlsvoicesnow whom engaged local NGOs and schools to organize photography workshops for girls, tagged ”Girls Voices for Change”. The aim of this initiative is to empower girls globally with a voice to tell their stories with photography.

• Project Zero Awards: The Inclusive Technology for All project, which is led by the Children’s Developmental Centre (CDC) and the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) was shortlisted as a finalist for the Zero Project Awards.

The Zero Project Awards celebrates Innovative Practices and Policies that help improve the lives of persons with disabilities,

Nominated practices and policies go through a detailed quality check and through one round of peer-reviewing from experts – with and without disabilities – from around the world. In 2019, 169 Practices and 24 Policies made it through to the Shortlist, selected from an incredible 469 nominations. All shortlisted projects will be invited to attend the Zero Project Conference 2020 at the United Nations Offices in Vienna, Austria.

W.TEC is proud that the IT4A project has been recognised among the world’s best practices seeking to improve life for differently-abled people.

Learn more about the Zero Project: https://zeroproject.org/shortlisted-projects/

Learn more about our awards online: https://wtec.org.ng/w-tec-win-multiple-awards-in-2019/

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In all, this has been an energizing quarter for us with the promise of even more impactful months ahead.

Thank you for supporting and sharing our work. Because of you, we have been able to increase our reach and improve the quality of our programming.

Please continue to donate to our work. Also consider becoming a recurring donor and setting-up automatic monthly payments to us. And please share our work with others in your network.

Together, we can keep working to build a pipeline that supports girls and women throughout their journeys from early engagement to a career in technology and sciences. We thank you and our girls thank you too.

Warm regards,

Oreoluwa Lesi

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

“Teary farewell for teens at STEAM camp” (Newspaper Article): https://thenationonlineng.net/teary-farewell-for-teens-at-steam-camp/

“W.TEC’s ‘She Creates Camp’ is committed to increasing the numbers of Nigerian Women / Girls working in Science, Technology & Maths related Fields” (Online Article): https://www.bellanaija.com/2019/10/w-tec-steam-camp/

“W.TEC Summer ICT Training Camp Ends In Awka” (Online Article): https://www.nobedad.com/article/b58c8472?c=226dc472ad&nc=1

“Group organises summer ICT training for girls” (Newspaper Article): https://www.nationallightngr.com/2019/09/12/group-organises-summer-ict-training-for-girls/

“NGO trains 50 girls on electronic circuit technologies, web designs”: (Newspaper Article) https://nnn.com.ng/ngo-trains-50-girls-on-electronic-circuit-technologies-web-designs/

“WTEC empowers 50 schoolgirls on technology skills” (Newspaper Article): https://punchng.com/wtec-empowers-50-schoolgirls-on-technology-skills/?fbclid=IwAR3C3wrmgGyC-LpeuF1G3hculBCzEOmNhICFcDvfWq6UvqnE0JSlXRiDTqI

“NGO trains 50 girls on electronic circuit technologies, web designs” (Online Article): https://realnewsmagazine.net/tech/ngo-trains-50-girls-on-electronic-circuit-technologies-web-designs/

See more photos of the camps and our other programmes online: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wtec/albums

View videos from the camps & our other programmes: https://www.youtube.com/user/watchwtec

Follow W.TEC on Instagram,Twitter and Facebook

Visit W.TEC website: www.wtec.org.ng

Email W.TEC: info@wtec.org.ng

ABOUT W.TEC & THE GIRLS TECHNOLOGY CAMP:

The She Creates Camp is an initiative designed to help Nigerian secondary schoolgirls develop an early interest in computer science, information technology and related careers. The She Creates Camp helps to intervene early, combat stereotypes and tackle the digital gender divide. We teach girls to create digital content, create software and develop skills that use information and communication technologies. Our two-week immersion programme empowers girls to contribute meaningfully to the digital economy and improve their economic opportunities.

The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is a Nigerian nonprofit organisation committed to building a more inclusive technology ecosystem, with the next generation of women technology creators, entrepreneurs and leaders.

Links:

• Video on Maiden Edition of STEAMHer Series
• BellaNaija Article on She Creates Camp
• "W.TEC Summer ICT Training Camp Ends In Awka" (Online Article)