Impact Stories from Empowering Women and Girls Policy Area

Fellow designs chatbot to support victims of GBV in Cameroon
Fellow(s): Cresence Elodie
Country: Cameroon
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
2018 fellow Cresence Elodie, founder of WETECH, announced a new partnership that will support victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in rural areas of Cameroon.
WETECH’s programs work to support African girls and women in the fields of entrepreneurship and technology. Their new partnership with the Center for Advocacy, Gender Equality and Action for Development (CAGEAD) used WETECH’s technology to design and launch “Alert GBV,” a chatbot similar to Sandra, WETECH’s COVID-19 chatbot that shares information on symptoms and local initiatives that support Cameroonians. Alert GBV, now available on the CAGEAD website, allows victims of Gender-Based Violence in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon to maintain anonymity but access support from organizations and health professionals. Visitors to the CAGEAD site receive a pop up chat from Alert GBV that connects them to a virtual assistant prepared to answer their questions and address their needs.
Report Date...: 8/17/20

Mentor(s): Tanu Chellam (Mentor)
Company: Autodesk
Mentor Type: Professional
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth
TechWomen Professional Mentor Tanu Chellam was named a recipient of the YWCA Silicon Valley’s Tribute to Women Awards, an annual event that honors women executive leaders and emerging leaders throughout Silicon Valley. The awards’ sponsor, YWCA, is a local organization that works to eliminate racism and empower women in Silicon Valley through advocacy and programming. One of their initiatives, Curated Pathways to Innovation, supports women and underrepresented minorities in pursuing a career in STEM.
Each year the awards ceremony honors up to 50 women leaders and attracts over 800 attendees. Tanu, who worked as a product management lead at Autodesk, was selected for her achievements in her field and for expanding professional opportunities for other women. She has since relocated to London to serve as co-founder and head of product at a startup.
Report Date...: 8/10/20

Fellow featured in campaign celebrating women in STEM fields
Fellow(s): Houda Chihi
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
2019 fellow Houda Chihi was recently featured in the Nsesa Foundation’s ongoing STEM Wow series, where she shared her career highlights, her greatest achievements and the challenges she has faced as a woman in her field. Houda is a chief engineer at Tunisie Telecom and a senior researcher at Innov’COM Laboratory.
When asked about her greatest achievement, Houda spoke about her TechWomen experience, her mentorship at Qualcomm and her exposure to leading companies in the Bay Area’s tech ecosystem: “I knew that with all my achievements, the TechWomen program was my key to build new contacts over the world and to get the opportunity to visit and get training in leadership and soft skills from great companies such as Linkedin, Facebook, Salesforce, Twitter, and Symantec,” she said. Houda also shared advice for other women and girls who are curious about entering STEM careers: “My advice for women is to join the STEM field, as they will always feel excited and curious about new technologies. It is also a great opportunity to build strong networks,” she said.
Report Date...: 8/10/20

Fellow completes Obama Foundation African Leaders program
Fellow(s): Refilwe Ledwaba
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
Recently, 2019 fellow of South Africa Refilwe Ledwaba completed the Obama Foundation African Leaders program. The program seeks to build a growing network of innovative and ethical changemakers who will drive positive change in their communities and beyond. During the year-long program, 200 emerging African leaders attend seminars focused on values-based leadership development, skill-building for social change, hands-on service learning and technical trainings.
Refilwe, South Africa’s first black female helicopter pilot, is the founder of the Girl Fly Programme in Africa (GFPA) Foundation, a non-profit organization empowering young women to go into STEM. Through the GFPA Foundation, she is addressing the challenges she faced when she entered the aviation industry by creating more access to opportunities for women, having learned ways to multiply her impact through the programs she has participated in. Refilwe says her biggest lesson learned from getting to know emerging leaders from all over the world through the TechWomen and Obama Foundation Leaders programs is to “continually challenge yourself and get out of that comfort zone.”
Report Date...: 8/3/2020

Fellow advocates for diversity and inclusion in magazine feature
Fellow(s): Lilian Motongori
Country: Kenya
Cohort: 2019
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
2019 fellow of Kenya Lilian Motongori was featured in the lifestyle magazine, Vuuqa. For the Women’s Month Special issue, Vuuqa highlighted the work of women leaders in Africa who are making strides in their respective industries.
In her feature, Lilian talks about how staying persistent and believing in herself pushed her to study engineering when she was younger, allowing her to become the mechanical engineer and renewable energy expert she is today. She is also the co-founder of Women in Energy Africa, a platform that empowers women and girls in the green tech fields. Lilian highlights the need for more inclusive representation in STEM: “For far too long [women were] sidelined in decision making tables yet we matter, too” she says. “There is beauty and importance in diversity as it brings in new ideas and understanding to all parties involved.”
Report Date...: 8/3/20

Fellows host webinar on intersection of motherhood and STEM
Fellow(s): Houda Chakiri, Unity Chipunza
Country: Morocco, Zimbabwe
Cohort: 2012, 2013
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Recently, 2012 fellow of Morocco Houda Chakiri facilitated the webinar “The voices of Moms in Tech during COVID-19,” in partnership with AfChix, a network for supporting African women in technology. The online panel included 2013 fellow of Zimbabwe Unity Chipunza and other women who shared their experiences of being working mothers in the STEM field, especially in light of the pandemic. The webinar is part of a series that was originally part of the cancelled TechWomen Summit meant to be held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this year. As the summit’s theme was “A Spectrum of Opportunities,” the topic of this panel and upcoming panels focus on cultivating inclusion.
During the webinar, Unity, an educational technologist at the Bindura University of Science Education, talked about overcoming the stigma of thinking e-learning as only for distance learners during the pandemic and how e-learning methods could be adapated towards any sort of curriculum, highlighting that children will be drawn to learning if given the right resources. Houda, a specialist in e-Government solutions, concluded the panel by encouraging attendees to instill hope in the children they are raising through the pandemic: “Moms are coping with the problems we have everyday and trying to solve them,” she says. “But the new generation can give us the solution by seeing this situation from the outside.”
Report Date...: 7/27/20

Fellow featured in 1 Million Women in STEM Campaign
Fellow(s): Nabila Bashir
Country: Jordan
Cohort: 2018
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
2018 fellow of Jordan Nabila Bashir was recently featured as one of the role models for the 1 Million Women in STEM Campaign, a campaign seeking to profile the experiences of one million women working in STEM to promote visible role models to the next generation of girls.
Nabila, as the director at the Queen Rania Teacher Academy, helps educators gain STEM professional development opportunities. She credits her time in TechWomen for empowering her to drive change in her community. “Being mentored by a group of professional women mentors through the TechWomen program assured [me] that women need support and role models to excel in their careers and that had a huge impact on my career,” she writes. “So, technology should empower leadership to drive change in community especially through education of girls, mentorship and support.”
Report Date...: 7/27/20