Impact Stories from Empowering Women and Girls Policy Area

Fellow(s): Faten Khalfallah and Eman Abusaada

Country: Palestinian Territories, Tunisia

Cohort: 2015

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

Two girls participating in the 2017 TechGirls program are mentored by TechWomen fellows. Eman Abusaada, 2015 fellow of the Palestinian Territories and co-organizer of Banat-Tech – a program founded by TechWomen fellows, and Faten Khalfallah, 2015 fellow of Tunisia and founder of First Skills Club, have mentees participating in the three-week exchange program. “I volunteered to be a co-organizer and Banat-Tech program coordinator at Gaza Strip. I increased awareness about the importance of diverse skills for teenagers,” Eman said. “I encouraged the girls to apply for Techgirls program. I was really proud to be the coordinator and organizer, and now Lina is in Washington.”

Report Date: 7/10/2017

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 and director of Girls in Tech – Cameroon, has mentored a team of students, aged 15 to 18 years old, to compete in the inaugural FIRST Globalrobotic competition in Washington, D.C. FIRST Global shared a video of the team that wants “to find long-term solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.” Janet also helped organize the Next Einstein Forum’s Africa Science Week in Yaounde, June 27-29, which included a hackathon, women in STEM event and tech meetup.

Report Date: 7/3/2017

Next Einstein Forum

Fellow(s): Sylvia Mukasa

Country: Kenya

Cohort: 2014

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

Sylvia Mukasa, 2014 fellow of Kenya and Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Ambassador, helped launch the first NEF Africa Science Week (ASW) in Nairobi, June 27-30. The celebration of science and technology included a hackathon for farming, women in STEM day and panels open to the general public. “We want to provide that platform for relevant discussions and monetary commitments toward research and development in Kenya,” Sylvia said. “The government needs to empower its young people to increase their ability to personally influence what is happening in their lives and communities.”

Report Date: 6/26/2017

Fellow(s): Beatrice Sonfack

Country: Cameroon

Cohort: 2016

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Youth Engagement

Beatrice Sonfack, 2016 fellow of Cameroon, has launched an association to empower and inspire young girls to engage in engineering and technology. Women in Engineering and Technology (WENTECH) targets girls from 13 to 18 years old through interactive workshops. After returning from the TechWomen program, Beatrice met with Cameroon’s Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, who has provided space for WENTECH to hosts its workshops. In March, Beatrice organized the first workshop for 17 girls with three trainers. In the most recent workshop sponsored by Orange Cameroon, June 19-20, 45 girls participated with four trainers, including Arielle Kitio, 2016 fellow of Cameroon. The workshops introduced girls to robotics and mobile application development.

Report Date: 6/26/2017

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

Country: Lebanon, Morocco, Zimbabwe

Cohort: 2013, 2016

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls

Aretha Mare, 2013 fellow of Zimbabwe, and 2016 fellows Maha Ech-Chefaa of Morocco and Sarah Abdallah of Lebanon participated on virtual panels hosted by Heart of All Women and Women Network earlier this month. The panel discussions were moderated by Cultural Mentor Ruby Yeh, founder of Heart of All Women. In the panel series, “Women’s Global Healing and Empowerment Fest,” which was organized by region, fellows shared personal stories about their experience and challenges of being women in STEM.

Report Date: 6/19/2017

Fellow(s): Joy Makumbe

Country: Zimbabwe

Cohort: 2015

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

Joy Makumbe, 2015 fellow of Zimbabwe, discusses her startup challenges and the impact of TechWomen on her personal and professional life in an interview featured on She Leads Africa. SunPower hosted Joy for her mentorship, where she “realized that there was so much untapped potential in Zimbabwe for solar power on the domestic, industrial and agricultural fields,” Joy stated.

Report Date: 6/12/2017

Fellow(s): Keremet Djolboshbekova; Nakylai Taiirova

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Cohort: 2015, 2016

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

Kyrgyzstani fellows, Keremet Djoldoshbekova of 2015 and Nakylai Taiirova of 2016, co-designed a weeklong program with Alif Khalfan, VP of Product Management & Revenue at Disney Consumer Products & Interactive, to teach approximately 70 students the basics of computer science (CS) and expose them to career opportunities.

Report Date: 6/5/2017

Taungana Africa

Fellow(s): Sandra Tererai; Nomso Kana

Country: South Africa, Zimbabwe

Cohort: 2013

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

Taunganafrica has reached more than 900 students in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe since it launched in 2014 with the support of a TechWomen seed grant. 2013 Fellows, Sandra Tererai of Zimbabwe and Nomso Kana of South Africa, have organized annual weeklong STEM expos for rural high school girls.

Report Date: 6/5/2017

Fellow(s): Aretha Mare, Amel Ghouila, Mona Karam, Claire Murekatete, Enatha Mukantwari, Baratang Miya, Ruth Kaveke, Danielle Akini

Country: Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Tunisia, Zimbabwe

Cohort: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017

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

Leading up to the Transform Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, TechWomen fellows and 2017 Emerging Leaders participated in a meetup for African initiatives promoting digital skills for girls on May 9. The meetup was part of the broader initiative #eskills4girls, which was launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, in collaboration with SAP Africa Code Week and UNESCO YouthMobile.

Report Date: 5/8/2017

Women in Data Science Conference

Fellow(s): Ouafa Benterki

Country: Algeria

Cohort: 2012

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

Ouafa Benterki, 2012 fellow of Algeria, presented on challenges in natural language processing at the Women in Data Science Conference on April 29 at the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene. As president of the Machine Translation Association – Algiers and Ambassador of Stanford Women in Data Science to Algeria, Ouafa helped organize the one-day conference to feature women involved in data science all over the world and to encourage women to be involved in the field.

Report Date: 5/1/2017

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