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As a pre-event to the 2017 Transform Africa Summit, female tech leaders from 30 African countries participated in the #eSkills4Girls meetup in Kigali, Rwanda, on May 9th at the KLab. A community building event, the objective of the meet up was to encourage the sharing of experiences and knowledge between girls-led digital initiatives across the Continent.
The meetup, jointly organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), SAP, and UNESCO, also offered participants the opportunity to improve their skills through specific workshops on project presentation, networking, media communication, moderation techniques and design thinking.
Passionate technology activists, the participants are all involved in organizations or initiatives with the objective to develop the digital skills of young girls in their countries, boost innovation, and encourage local e-content creation. Following the meet up, participants will engage in building a self-sustainable community platform to maximize opportunities, information sharing, and social impact.
Part of the broader #eSkills4Girls initiative launched by BMZ in the framework of Germany’s G20 presidency in 2017, the meetup built on UNESCO’s YouthMobile “Searching For Martha” project, which was launched at the Transform Africa Summit in 2015. Through its YouthMobile Initiative, deployed in more than 20 countries worldwide, UNESCO aims to provide young girls and boys with the necessary skills and confidence to become creators of digital innovations.
YouthMobile is also supporting SAP’s Africa Code Week initiative, which in 2016 has reached more than 400 thousand young people in 30 African countries. Several of the meetup participants are also active Africa Code Week Ambassadors. The 2017 edition will take place across 35 countries from 18-25 October.