Boosting IT Literacy in Africa

The Problem

Africa has 15% of the world population but only 5% of the world’s Internet users and the majority of these are concentrated in the urban, affluent areas of the continent (mainly in the far north and South Africa). It is also the continent with the lowest connectivity in the world with only 5.7% of the population connected to the Internet. The adoption of the internet between countries is larger than the disparity in GDP per capita, meaning there is more worldwide inequality in internet access than income.

Much as in the rest of the world, there are few women in Africa employed in the Information Technology industry and are underrepresented in this area.  

There is also a large digital divide between rural and urban Africa; in rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa for example, less than 20% of people have access to electricity which impacts the IT services available in these remote areas. Other obstacles in rural areas include low levels of computer literacy, poor infrastructures and high costs of Internet services. Having a well-resourced, sustainable ICT center in rural areas would drastically improve the information-flow to the area, as well as bring down the cost of internet connection.   

The Solution

Camfed trained Penelope as an IT Ambassador and she trains other young women as IT experts. She now runs the Samfya Resource Center which is the only viable internet center within hundreds of miles, serving a community of over 191,000 people in an extremely impoverished area of Zambia.

Here, she teaches community members how to use the computer and the internet to research educational and employment opportunities, as well as to expand their businesses.

The Woman

http://vimeo.com/20736920

Empowering Young Women Leaders in Nepal

THE PROBLEM: Women in Nepal face overwhelming challenges: 1/3 of girls aged 15 to 19 are married and 60% of women are illiterate. Young women have the passion and vision to solve these problems, but simply lack the necessary resources.

THE SOLUTION: Women LEAD has equipped 200 promising students (aged 14 to 19) with skills and resources through leadership programs: the Institute, School Leadership, and Social Entrepreneurship. We empower young women to take leadership positions alongside men in Nepal by providing them with the skills to pursue their vision for change. We build the capacity of future female leaders to tackle the root causes of poverty and discrimination. 

THE WOMEN: Claire Naylor’s move to Nepal in 1992 meant her earliest memories were shadowed by ingrained gender discrimination. Although child marriage and illiteracy were the norm, the impressions of Nepali women that remain are their resilience and compassion. For Claire Charamnac, her work at women’s rights NGOs in Singapore made her confront the harsh realities of female migrant workers. As young leaders ourselves, we understand the importance of empowering youth, especially girls. We’re inspired by these women’s ability to not only survive but embrace life, even in societies that deny them basic human rights.

We co-founded Women LEAD in 2010, and have expanded from a 2 week pilot program serving 25 young women to an organization with 7 programs serving over 200 youth.