Celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in Kazakhstan

The UNESCO Almaty Office organizes an advocacy event for schoolchildren on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in order to promote full and equal access and participation in science for young girls and women.

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated each year on 11 February, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016 to promote full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls. This Day is a reminder that women and girls play a critical role in science and technology communities and that their participation should be strengthened. Since 2017, the UNESCO Almaty Office celebrates this day with UN colleagues and national partners. The event, organized in cooperation with the UNESCO Associated Schools Network and the Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University, will bring together 60 schoolchildren of 5-6 grades from Kazakhstan’s regions, as well as teachers, young women researchers pursuing their PhDs or already conducting research in academia, representatives of the UN Country Team and other partners.

The event will be held in a format of plenary introductory session, interactive sessions and a quiz. The interactive sessions will be organized in a format of six thematic 'stations', with the aim of sensitizing children on the role of science in their daily lives and in addressing major environmental challenges, as well as in promoting the key SDGs related to science and environment. It will teach children to act together and analyze their actions and actions of other participants. The topics of the six different stations focus on the major environmental challenges that the world, and Kazakhstan in particular, faces.

After the event, the students will be asked to replicate this activity in their schools in a form of a training for their schoolmates. On the occasion of the World Environment Day (5 June), the best team will be announced and the girls will further compete for the title of Science Ambassador for Girls. The best team will also participate in UNESCO-organized field trip, which will be the first in a series of field works for girls in environmental sciences, entitled as “Girls and Rocks” and undertaken under the initiative of the UNESCO Almaty Office to promote girls interest in science in Central Asia.