Impact Stories from Empowering Women and Girls Policy Area

sharing advice for young girls

Fellow(s): Marie Claire Murekatete

Country: Rwanda

Cohort: 2014

Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls

Marie Claire was interviewed by Career Girls, a video-based career tool for girls that emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. Marie Claire shared about her work researching and finding software solutions to meet people’s needs and provided career advice to young girls based on her own personal experiences. In one of the videos, she spoke about how her experience with TechWomen inspired her to create Refugee Girls Need You, a social initiative to give back to the community by teaching refugee girls technology skills. Marie Claire encourages girls to work hard and have confidence. She says that confidence is the “prize” for girls who become coders and create website applications that help people.

Report Date: 9/4/2017

Meeting with President of Tunisia and U.S. Ambassador

Fellow(s): Amel Ghouila

Country: Tunisia

Cohort: 2014

Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth

“Amel met with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi and U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia Daniel Rubinstein, along with other alumni of U.S. government-funded academic and professional exchange programs. During this meeting, the alumni presented details of their accomplishments since returning to Tunisia. Amel’s accomplishments include: launching the Technovation Challenge in Tunisia, which started with just 54 girls during its first year and now enrolls more than 100 girls across the country; excelling in her role as a bioinformatician at the Institut Pasteur and implementing related training across Africa; receiving the 2016 Regional Ambassador Award from Technovation; and, with other TechWomen fellows in Tunisia, launching Women Leaders in Tech (WOLTECH), a group to empower Tunisian women working in STEM fields.

President Caid Essebsi highlighted the important role of exchange programs in empowering Tunisians with tools to be successful and boost the Tunisian economy.”

Report Date: 9/4/2017

AEIF for Mombasa Girls in STEM

Fellow(s): UmiKaltuma Ibrahim, Serah Kahiu, Sandra Kambo, Sylvia Mukasa and Annie Njenga

Country: Kenya

Cohort: 2014

Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Youth Engagement

UmiKaltuma Ibrahim, Serah Kahiu, Sandra Kambo, Sylvia Mukasa and Annie Njenga, 2014 fellows of Kenya, have received an Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) grant for Mombasa Girls in STEM, their project to increase girls’ interest in STEM-based subjects. Ruth Kaveke, 2017 Emerging Leader from Kenya, is also involved with the organization. Participants of Mombasa Girls in STEM will be challenged to develop solutions to community problems. Those solutions will be displayed and presented to local leaders at a Girls in STEM Fair, with the goal that local leaders implement the winning solutions in the community. Mombasa Girls in STEM is one of just 68 projects selected for an award out of more than 1,000 proposals.

Report Date: 8/28/2017

Voice of America Afrique interview

Fellow(s): Janet Fofang

Country: Cameroon

Cohort: 2013

Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Youth Engagement

Janet Fofang, 2013 fellow of Cameroon, appeared on an episode of Vous et Nous, a news show broadcasted by Voice of America Afrique (video in French). Janet spoke about her work with a technology club at Tassah Academy, where she is the director. Thanks to Janet’s work, the technology club, which previously comprised more male participants than female, is now made up of 60% girls, including as young as age seven. Janet believes that by getting girls involved in the technology club at a young age, she can help them realize that there are many paths they can take in their lives beyond marrying and staying in the home. As more girls joined the club, enthusiasm grew to the point where the technology club is now considered to be the “cool club” for girls at the school.

Report Date: 8/28/17

Guest Blog Post

Fellow(s): Diana Nassar

Country: Jordan

Cohort: 2016

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls

Diana Nassar, 2016 fellow of Jordan, wrote a blog post to help the 2017 Emerging Leaders prepare for their upcoming experience in the U.S. Diana shared her excitement about meeting influential and inspirational leaders in Silicon Valley, the personal and professional growth she experienced as a part of the program and the lifelong connections she has made with the Techwomen mentors, fellows and others she met throughout her time in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC. By sharing what she learned from her TechWomen experience, Diana hopes to help this year’s participants feel best prepared to take full advantage of the TechWomen experience so that their experience will be as positive as hers.

Report Date: 8/21/2017

California Women's Conference

Fellow(s): Sarah Abdallah, Maha Ech-Chefaa

Country: Lebanon, Morocco

Cohort: 2016

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth

Sarah Abdallah, 2016 fellow of Lebanon, and Maha Ech-Chefaa, 2016 fellow of Morocco, were invited by Cultural Mentor Ruby Yeh to participate in a virtual panel of Arab women at the California Women’s Conference. The panelists used storytelling as a means to address the cultural barriers they have faced as women and to identify ways in which their disadvantages have made them stronger and more successful individuals. Sarah referred to the panel as “empowerment through recognition of mutual suffering and realizing that we are not alone in our hurts and experiences.”

Report Date: 8/14/2017

Next Generation Women Leaders Award

Fellow(s): Asal Ibrahim

Country: Jordan

Cohort: 2014

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth

Asal Ibrahim, 2014 fellow of Jordan, has received a Next Generation Women Leaders (NGWL) award from McKinsey & Company. NGWL awards are presented to women who want to use their talents to create positive change in their lives and the world we share. The program aims to connect entrepreneurial women from all over the world through events hosted by the company. Winners receive a financial award to implement a project of their choice and are mentored by a consultant at McKinsey. According to Asal, this award “boosts [her] confidence and gives [her] access to vast global networks which open doors to endless possibilities for the future.” Asal plans to use the financial award to broaden her volunteer work in Africa.

Report Date: 8/14/2017

Inspiring South African Women in Tech

Fellow(s): Baratang Miya, Nomso Kana, Lindiwe Matlali

Country: South Africa

Cohort: 2013, 2015, 2017

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth

Baratang Miya, 2015 fellow of South Africa, was named by Business Tech as one of five inspiring South African women working in technology. Baratang was recognized for her work as the founder of Girl Hype, a not-for-profit organization that provides coding and app development training for girls and young women. Her work was also featured in a podcast interview by the Grey Ave Podcast, where she spoke about Girl Hype, shared her personal story of how she got started in technology and talked about her travels, including to the United States as part of TechWomen. In addition to herself being an inspirational woman in tech, Baratang served as a judge in the Inspiring Fifty: South Africa 2017 competition in which Nomso Kana, 2013 fellow, and Lindiwe Matlali, 2017 Emerging Leader, were named as winners.

Report Date: 8/14/2017

Middle East North Africa Alumni Thematic International Exchange Seminars (TIES)

Fellow(s): Mariam Keriakos and Nazha Larhissi

Country: Egypt, Morocco

Cohort: 2013, 2015

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth

Mariam Kariakos, 2015 fellow of Egypt, and Nezha Larhrissi, 2013 fellow of Morocco, were invited to speak at the Middle East North Africa Alumni Thematic International Exchange Seminars (TIES) seminar held in Casablanca, Morocco in July. Funded by ECA, Alumni TIES brings together alumni of U.S. State Department exchange programs for regional, thematically focused seminars. Mariam and Nezha spoke on an all-female panel called “Identifying and Leveraging Untapped Resources and Markets.” Mariam highlighted how she used her business consulting and technology experience to launch her own business, Craftista.me, and offered guidance on how to blend entrepreneurship with social impact and strategies to create women friendly working environments. Nezha spoke about how her experience as an advisor to Morocco’s Minister of Environment brought her to realize how much global collaboration was crucial to the fight against global warming and how she used the network she established with TechWomen to co-found e-STEM Morocco with two other TechWomen fellows.

Report Date: 8/7/2017

Small Grants Program of the U.S. Embassy Democracy Commission

Fellow(s): Nazira Sheraly

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Cohort: 2016

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls

Charba, a company started by 2016 fellow of Kyrgyzstan, Nazira Sheraly, received an award through the Small Grants Program of the U.S. Embassy Democracy Commission, administered by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. Charba’s mission is to use innovative technologies to create affordable and high quality greenhouses. In partnership with Atuul, a local NGO, Nazira’s company is using the grant to educate women on the greenhouse business and business in general, to coach women who are implementing their own business ideas and to monitor and evaluate the newly established businesses. To further motivate the women involved, Nazira plans to hold a competition to provide additional mentorship and support for seven winners to make their businesses more successful.

Report Date: 8/7/2017

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