Impact Stories from Education Diplomacy/Mentoring Policy Area
Give Them Hope
Fellow(s): 2016 Cameroon Cohort
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls
The objective of the 2016 Cameroonian cohort’s action plan, GivTH, is to provide resources and trainings through technology to teenagers in the Far North region of Cameroon. Since January, the team began collecting required documents for students to enroll in schools in the Maroua borough, and in February five students began training programs to master Microsoft Office and improve their literacy. The team continues to follow up with the five teens who have started vocational training programs and is planning a fundraising event in May to support working with an additional 20 teens
Read More »Report Date...: 4/3/2017
Mentor(s): Claudia Galvan, Tina Shakour and Lucie Newcomb
Mentor Type: Professional, impact
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring
Mentors Claudia Galvan, Tina Shakour, and Lucie Newcomb presented about TechWomen at South by Southwest, the annual conglomerate of film, interactive media and music festivals and conferences in Austin. They reflected on the power of exchange programs and how TechWomen serves as a path for citizen diplomacy. The panelists discussed their own experiences as mentors for the program and what they have learned from participating on delegation trips. TechWomen fellow Lucie Newcomb said, “TechWomen changes the lives of its participants and the societies they are from.”
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Report Date...: 3/13/2017
Creating a Path to the Future
Fellow(s): Salwa Campbell, Magdalene Peters
Country: Sierra Leone
Cohort: 2015, 2016
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
In February 2017, Sierra Leonean fellows, Salwa Campbell and Magdalene Peters , launched a mentorship program for girls at the Annie Walsh Memorial School in Freetown. The program, Creating a Path to the Future, will reach 400 secondary school girls and provide them with opportunities to discover their potential during a six-month mentorship. The group mentorship will focus on networking, knowledge and skill transfer, career development, professional development and situational guidance. Salwa says “Young girls have the potential to demonstrate a positive identity when they have a sense of personal well-being and a sense of connection and commitment to others. When they gain knowledge, skills and attitude, they demonstrate an ability that prepares them for the future.”
Report Date...: 2/20/2017
Two Hours of Coding
Fellow(s): Mercy Sosanya, Chioma Ezedi
Country: Nigeria
Cohort: 2015, 2016
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Youth Engagement
Nigerian fellows Mercy Sosanya (2015) and Chioma Ezedi (2016) held an introduction to computer programming session on February 14. Students from three secondary schools in Bauchi learned to code during the “Two Hours of Coding” event.. With support from Mercy and Chioma, the students built their first static website. Chioma spoke with the students about the importance of coding and that learning to code is compatible with any career path they may choose, while Mercy inspired the students by showing them her beautiful ‘STEMeers’ website, built partly using HTML.
Report Date...: 2/20/2017
Tunisia mentoring council
Fellow(s): Fatma Ghandour, Ameni Channoufi, Hadia Kahlaoui, Noura Berzouga, Meriem Chaabani and Arwa Guesmi
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2013, 2014, 2015
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls
Women Leaders in Tech (WoLTech) comprised of Tunisian fellows Fatma Ghandour (2013), Hadia Kahlaoui (2013), Ameni Channoufi (2014), Noura Berzouga (2014), Mariem Chaabani (2015) and Arwa Guesmi (2015) launched the Tunisia Mentoring Council this month. This is a six-month mentoring program for Tunisian women who are in the process of launching or have already launched a startup or a project in STEM. Working with a professional mentor, the Tunisian women in STEM will receive guidance and support as well as the opportunity to brainstorm, inspire, challenge and achieve. Experts and leaders will accompany the mentor and the mentee through workshops, trainings, meet-up sessions and cultural gatherings.
Report Date...: 2/13/2017
eSTEM
Fellow(s): Nezha Larhrissi, Salima Kaissi, Zineb Rharrasse
Country: Morocco
Cohort: 2013
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Youth Engagement
On January 28, Moroccan TechWomen fellows from the 2013 program, Nezha Larhrissi, Salima Kaissi and Zineb Rharrasse hosted the annual assembly for their organization, eSTEM Morocco at Mohammed V University in Rabat. The organization encourages girls to engage in STEM through mentorship and science workshops. The meeting served as an opportunity to increase awareness surrounding the organization, recruit more girls to participate in its activities and share plans for 2017.
Report Date...: 1/30/2017
One Child, One Desk
Fellow(s): Lucy Mutinda, Ndisha Mwakala
Country: Kenya
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls
This January, Team Kenya, one of the 2016 TechWomen seed grant winners, began work on their action plan, One Desk One Child. Their initiative aims to provide desks to marginalized schools annually, reducing the desk to child ratio from 1:10 to 1:3 in Kajiado county. Lucy Mutinda and Ndisha Mwakala, two TechWomen fellows, met with school teachers of Kenya. As a result of their conversations, they were able to provide financial support to girls who lacked the financial resources to pay for education. Ndisha commented, “The main reason {one student, Caroline’s story} resonated with me is because I grew up very poor, and education is what helped me get myself and my family out of the slums – something I really hoped we could help Caroline do for herself and her family.”
Report Date...: 1/23/2017
STEM camp
Fellow(s): Marie Claire Murekatete
Country: Rwanda
Cohort: 2015
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Youth Engagement
TechWomen fellows from Rwanda hosted a weeklong STEM camp at SOS Technical High School for 200 girls from all five provinces of the country earlier this month. The U.S. Embassy in Kigali supported the event, which served as an opportunity for mentors to share their career success stories and inspire young girls to consider careers in STEM. The participants, which included refugees from two different camps, learned about mobile application development, programming, robotics and website development. Marie Claire Murekatete, 2015 fellow, said, “It was so exciting to see how girls develop the innovative and community issue solution projects, but my overwhelming moment was to see how refugee girls built the website for their hosting camps” to make people aware of what is going on at their camps.”
Report Date...: 1/23/2017
Hands-on STEM
Fellow(s): Sabine Kai, Petra Saab, Layal Zakhour
Country: Lebanon
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Youth Engagement
Fellows from the 2014 program, Sabine El Kahi, Petra Saab and Layal Zakhour, initiated the second phase of their project, Hands-on STEM, which aims to establish STEM clubs where students can explore different aspects of STEM in an interactive way, in addition to participating in field trips to tech companies and universities.In total, 32 team leaders will be trained to go back and launch a club in their school. That club will have 20 members who will meet weekly to learn, build, explore and create projects.
Report Date...: 1/9/2017
Africa Code Week
Fellow(s): Rogeema Kenny
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2015
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Youth Engagement
During Africa Code Week, 2015 fellow Rogeema Kenny of South Africa helped train 1,273 children and young adults in basic coding skills in Cape Town from October 15-23. An initiative supported by SAP to drive sustainable growth, Africa Code Week aims to expose children and young adults to coding and encourage them to pursue the field across the entire continent.
Read More »Report Date...: 11/7/2016