Impact Stories

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  Fellow(s): Gulzire Minbaeva, Madina Samakbaeva

  Country: Kyrgyzstan

  Region: CSA

  Cohort: 2018, 2020-2021

  Project/Action: Fellows collaborate with UNDP to advocate for STEM education

  Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement

  This week, Gulzire Minbaeva (2018) and Madina Samakbaeva (2020-2021) collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme of the Kyrgyz Republic to host a Q&A session about the importance of STEM education. The session was held on the UNDP Instagram page, where Gulzire and Madina interacted with women and youth to answer their questions about the skills STEM develops and the importance of including women and girls in STEM fields.
  Gulzire is a teacher, education advocate and the official representative of Khan Academy in Kyrgyzstan. She and her team have translated over 250 Khan Academy video courses to Kyrgyz that are available for free to students throughout Kyrgyzstan. Madina is a quality control chemist and founder of Easysciencekg, a platform that provides easy and accessible chemistry lessons to children and adults.
  In their sessions, the fellows spoke about the UNDP’s new STEM4ALL initiative, a program that addresses gender inequity in STEM fields through STEM advocacy, education and policy recommendations. The fellows answered questions about gender discrimination in STEM, emphasizing that STEM education is for all students, regardless of gender. “I told them about all the skills STEM develops, using examples from my own life,” said Madina. “STEM education will develop our students.”

  Report Date: 9/13/21

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  Fellow(s): Joy Makumbe

  Country: Zimbabwe

  Region: SSA

  Cohort: 2015

  Project/Action: Fellow featured as STEM role model for girls

  Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement

  2015 fellow Joy Makumbe was featured in Words That Count, an initiative that
  shares stories of successful African women in STEM who serve as role models for
  young girls on the continent. Joy, a civil and water engineer and project manager,
  spoke about her leadership journey, her passion for engineering and the
  importance of women’s leadership in male-dominated industries.
  This year, Joy published Tech Girl Diaries, a book that chronicles her personal and
  professional journey in STEM. Through a series of essays, Joy shares lessons and
  practical advice on how parents, communities and workplaces can support girls and
  women on their STEM journeys and work together towards addressing the gender
  imbalance in STEM fields. “Working in a male-dominated industry is challenging
  because you are always required to prove yourself to be acceptable,” Joy says in
  the Words That Count feature. “I love what I do, and I have no apologies for
  that…Women are powerful and have what it takes to overcome the many obstacles
  they face in a patriarchal society.”​

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  Report Date: 9/13/21