Siemens has partnered with United Nations (UN) Women Germany for an upskilling programme of more than 600 young African women in South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda. The UN Women – African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) will train young women between the ages of 17 and 25 in digital literacy, programming and work-readiness skills. Thus they will be empowered to become programmers, coders and designers so that they can take up careers in the ICT sector. The learning content goes from cybersecurity, through to career options in IT, to low coding.
Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens sub-Saharan Africa, said the programme offers enormous potential to bridge the ICT gender gap in the African continent by training the beneficiaries from these countries. Elke Ferner, president of UN Women Germany said: “We’re thrilled to have partnered with Siemens to invest in the education and empowerment of girls in Africa – a crucial driver of sustainable development in the continent.”
In addition, Siemens South Africa has designed a new mentoring programme – SieMent EmpowHer, which works hand in hand with the AGCCI. This initiative will connect experienced female mentors from different Siemens locations around the world with the 600 young women participating in the upskilling in Africa. “With the introduction of SieMent EmpowHer, we will help bridge the gap between academia and the workplace. By empowering and upskilling young women through mentorship across the African continent, we will help improve their employability by equipping them with a set of skills that will help them generate an income, develop resilience, and contribute to transformative growth in Africa,” said Dall’Omo. The young women will be offered training and workshops in robotics, cybersecurity, animation, 3D printing and gender equality, and in women empowerment, leadership, work readiness and communications.
“I am proud to see our company’s continued commitment to the development of young African women who don’t have access to skills development opportunities like these. In sub-Saharan Africa, youth unemployment remains a barrier to progress,” said Natalia Oropeza from Siemens AG. “Teaming up with UN Women on this initiative is helping us to enable young women to gain access to technology, while indirectly addressing the issue of inequality.”
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