Impact Stories from Empowering Women and Girls Policy Area
TechGirls and Technovation collaborate in Nablus
Fellow(s): Ayah Soufan, Yamama Shakaa, Ruba Awayes
Country: Palestinian Territories
Cohort: 2015, 2016, 2017
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Last month, 2015 fellow Ayah Soufan collaborated with 2016 fellow Yamama Shakaa and 2017 fellow Ruba Awayes for a closing ceremony of the 2019 Technovation season. Ayah, the event organizer, is a regional ambassador of the Technovation Challenge as well as a leader of the TechWomen /TechGirls Club in the West Bank.
The event brought together nearly 90 girls between the ages of 10 to 17, as well as their Technovation mentors. Yamama, who served as a mentor for the team that won second place in 2018, and Ruba were featured speakers, sharing the importance of seeking innovative solutions to leading issues in their community. Technovation participants also had an opportunity to share their experience and highlight what they’d learned.
Two TechGirls alumnae, Nagham Joudeh and Sima Sbouh, joined to speak about the TechGirls program and share its transformative effect on their lives and career paths. Nagham is now a sixth-year medical school student, and Sima is a second-year computer engineering student. “I’m sure that this will be the beginning of many different events that feature collaboration between Techwomen and TechGirls alumnae,” said Ayah.
Report Date...: 10/7/19
Mentor(s): Eileen Brewer, Rekha Pai-Kamath, Chepkemoi Magdaline
Mentor Type: Impact
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
TechWomen Impact Coaches Eileen Brewer and Rekha Pai-Kamath, as well as TechWomen 2019 Emerging Leader Chepkemoi Magdaline, were featured speakers at this month’s 2019 Grace Hopper Celebration. The annual event is the world’s largest gathering of women technologists and brings comprehensive programming featuring global women leaders.
Eileen’s session, “Pitch Perfect,” offered 10 elements for creating an impactful pitch deck. Rekha was a featured panelist in “Creating Meaningful Impact through Tech Non-profits,” sharing her expertise on how tech can offer sustainable solutions to leading issues. Chepkemoi, who attended the event after week one of TechWomen 2019, was a winner of the AnitaB.org Pass It On program, which offers grants to women whose projects support women in computing. Alongside TechWomen alumnae, Chepkemoi is a part of North-Rift Women in STEM Inclusion Project, an initiative that organizes three-day boot camps women in rural regions of Kenya. At GHC, Chepkemoi led a session and participated in a panel speaking about her work supporting and empowering women and girls.
Report Date...: 10/7/19
Fellow recognized for work in digital inclusion
Fellow(s): Sophie Ngassa
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2013
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
This month, 2013 fellow Sophie Ngassa was highlighted as a woman who is playing an integral role in shaping the future of the internet in Africa. She was featured by the African School on Internet Governance, an annual five-day residential course that brings together Africans from diverse backgrounds to speak about global internet governance and work to shape the future of the internet landscape.
Sophie is a civil engineer, STEM advocate and founder of the Center for Youth Education and Economic Development, a digital empowerment training center for youth in Cameroon. Sophie is an advocate for an open internet – “an internet without borders,” she says – and works to empower civilians and policymakers to ensure that the internet is both safe and accessible to everyone, regardless of location, gender and economic background.
Report Date...: 10/7/19
2019 Emerging Leaders share perspectives on TechWomen blog
Fellow(s): Sitora Salaeva, Zani Gichuki, Esra’a Alsanie
Country: Jordan, Kenya, Uzbekistan
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship
Recently, three 2019 Emerging Leaders wrote guest blogs in our returning blog series, Emerging Leader Voices. In their posts, Sitora Salaeva of Uzbekistan, Zani Gichuki of Kenya and Esra’a Alsanie of Jordan shared their perspectives on being women in STEM fields. In Arriving at my dream, Sitora – who applied to TechWomen four times before being accepted – spoke about often being the only woman on her team or in her department, prompting her to become an advocate for gender equality in the workplace.
At the age of 14, Zani was asked whether she’d rather be the wife of a doctor or an engineer. Now a civil engineer herself, Zani shares her perspective in Defying expectations: my journey in STEM. In our final guest blog post, Esra’a offers insight on how to accept and overcome obstacles. As founder and CEO of an edtech startup, Esra’a credits remaining flexible as a crucial factor to her success. Read her key takeaways in You can only connect the dots looking backward.
Report Date...: 9/30/19
Fellow and Emerging Leader meet with Duchess of Sussex
Fellow(s): Baratang Miya, Nobukhosi Dlamini
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2015, 2019
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
This month, 2015 fellow Baratang Miya and 2019 Emerging Leader Nobukhosi Dlamini met with the Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, during her recent tour of South Africa. The Cape Town event, Ladies who Launch, was hosted by the UK-SA Tech Hub, a virtual hub and training center for entrepreneurs and founders with a focus on women in tech. Baratang and Nobukhosi were among a group of 13 women selected as leaders who drive positive change and serve as role models for women in their communities.
At a roundtable, Baratang and Nobukhosi were invited to share their professional journeys and their efforts to address gender equality within their fields. They spoke about what drives and motivates them, and were invited to share in what ways tenacity has allowed them to achieve their career goals.
Report Date...: 9/30/19
Fellows come together for women empowerment bootcamp
Fellow(s): Nassima Berrayah, Amel Chenouf, Essema Redouane-Salah, Nacira Boussoualim
Country: Algeria
Cohort: 2012, 2013, 2018
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
This week, 2013 fellow Nassima Berrayah organized a training bootcamp and competition for women in Algeria, inviting 2012 fellows Amel Chenouf and Essma Redouane-Salah and 2018 fellow Nacira Boussoualim to participate as mentors and coaches. Nassima is the founder of WeAccelerator, a program that supports women founders and entrepreneurs. She organized the event in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy and Global Startup Weekend, a yearly event connects startup communities around the world.
The week brought 44 participants from 11 startup teams from backgrounds such as computer science, biology, medicine, chemistry and finance together for training sessions, workshops and discussions. The sessions focused on communications, new technologies, pitching and entrepreneurship. At the end of the bootcamp, a winning startup team was chosen to represent Algeria in the Global Startup Weekend Finals, held in Singapore in 2020. “By the end of the event, I was very amazed seeing how in just three days, the participants arrived to present a great project and new ideas,” said Nacira. “Most of them were young and had a willingness to make a change.”
Report Date...: 9/30/19
Mentor(s): 2019 Emerging Leaders
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
On Sunday, IIE welcomed the arrival of the 2019 cohort of 108 Emerging Leaders from 21 countries. This year’s Emerging Leaders will join TechWomen’s network of over 300 Professional Mentors, Cultural Mentors and Impact Coaches – and an alumnae community of over 600 fellows and 700 mentors – as they embark on five weeks of mentorship and professional exchange.
This year’s 40 host company partners include Glassdoor, 23andMe and Salesforce; the program is also welcoming a group of new host companies, including Airbnb, SurveyMonkey, Okta and Zume. TechWomen’s first week of programming includes the Cultural Kickoff, where Emerging Leaders will showcase the rich culture of their home countries, as well as Action Plan Workshop 1, where country teams will establish the foundation of their action plans alongside their Impact Coaches.
Leading into the program, three 2019 Emerging Leaders wrote guest posts on the TechWomen blog in the series Emerging Leader Voices, sharing their perspectives as women in STEM and highlighting and their achievements, challenges and life lessons. Follow along as we provide #techwomen19 updates on Twitter, Instagram, and the TechWomen blog!
Report Date...: 9/23/19
2013 seed grant winners hold 6th annual STEM expo
Fellow(s): Sandra Tererai, Nomso Kana, Chioniso Dube-Hachigonta
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2013
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
This month, 2013 fellows of South Africa Sandra Tererai, Nomso Kana and Chioniso Dube-Hachigonta held a one-week STEM expo for 30 students representing South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini. Taungana, a TechWomen 2013 seed grant-winning initiative, holds the annual event to connect rural girls to women mentors, educational resources and leading professionals in STEM fields.
Throughout the week, the students (called Ambassadors) were immersed in multiple STEM industries, visiting local universities, science museums, tech companies and a local power utility. During their day trips, the students received hands-on lessons on nuclear fission, cryptocurrency, aviation, coding, health sciences and the electricity generation process. During a visit to Uber, the Ambassadors got a behind-the-scenes look at the local Greenlight Hub, followed by a session on design thinking. The week also included a pitch night where Ambassadors pitched 90-second scientific solutions to social challenges.
Report Date...: 9/23/19
Fellow mentors Kyrgyzstan’s first all-women space program
Fellow(s): Zainab Saleem, Kyzzhibek Batyrkanova, Ainura Sagyn
Country: Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
2017 fellow of Pakistan Zainab Saleem is mentoring members of the Kyrgyz Space Program, an all-women team that is building and launching Kyrgyzstan’s first satellite by 2020. The women, many of whom are not trained in STEM fields, meet with Zainab bi-weekly to gain skills in robotics, engineering and satellite technology. The core team, comprised of women ages 18-24, includes 2019 TechWomen Emerging Leader Kyzzhibek Batyrkanova.
Zainab holds a master’s degree in aerospace and aeronautical engineering and is currently working on groundbreaking SAR satellite technology at Finland’s ICEYE as an attitude and orbit control system engineer. She was introduced to the Kyrgyz team by 2017 fellow of Kyrgyzstan Ainura Sagyn after both fellows participated in TechWomen’s delegation trip to Uzbekistan.
After noticing that the space program’s nanosatellite was too far off from its target, Zainab began by dividing the women into teams – a mechanical team, an electronics team and an engineering team – and began developing a curriculum that would help the women reach their goal. “Zainab has greatly impacted our program,” says 2019 Emerging Leader Kyzzhibek. “We started with basics, like making a robot that could wipe the floor. That was fun. Now we’ll proceed with the basics of the cube satellite technology next month.”
Report Date...: 9/16/19
Fellow shares experience on empowering women in tech
Fellow(s): Dalia Shurrab
Country: Palestinian Territories
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
This week, 2018 fellow of the Palestinian Territories Dalia Shurrab was the featured guest on a podcast, outlining the challenges and rewards of helping run Gaza’s first tech hub. Dalia is the social media coordinator at Gaza Sky Geeks, a coworking space and innovation hub that provides programming and mentorship for tech professionals.
The podcast, Latitude Adjustment, features guests from underrepresented communities throughout the world, hoping to inspire curiosity and cultural exchange. In the interview, Dalia spoke about how Gaza Sky Geeks developed its programs to educate women in tech, regardless of their background. One of Gaza Sky Geeks’ main programs, Code Academy, ensures that half of its participants are women. Dalia explained that if a woman is interested in the course but lacks the necessary requirements, Gaza Sky Geeks will invest in their professional development, assign them mentors and train them so they can match course criteria.
Report Date...: 9/16/19
