ADDIS ABABA (UNESCO Liaison Office in Addis Ababa)–On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, March 8, 2019, 24 young girls from Addis Ababa presented ten business ideas through innovations that can work on mobile phones and on the web, during the recently organized Code for the Future pitching event by UNESCO in partnership with iceaddis and within the Framework of UNESCO’s YouthMobile” Initiative .
On the opening of the pitching event, UNESCO Liaison Office Director Ms Ana Elisa Santana Afonso through her representative Ms Lydia Gachungi noted that mobile technology is the future of African Youth. “Mobile application has become a medium for youth empowerment, activism and an engine for change and UNESCO is convinced that working with the youth to develop skills in developing mobile apps, can play a big role as an interactive communication platform for the various sectors in this country.” Reiterated Gachungi.
Participating girls appreciated the opportunity given to them and the experiences and lessons they acquired by being involved in the program. “I have seen many creative women in this event which is really motivating and I really like the whole process from the beginning to the end! “ Exclaimed Hilina Ayalew a participant in this event.
One of the pitching trainees from Addis Ababa, Bethlehm Seifu had this to say, “ This opportunity provided us with new experience throughout the competition and I think it would be good if you can reach more girls in other cities”. Eden Degfa also indicated that the pitching event was insightful and interactive. “There were some amazing ideas and the questions from the judges concerning the business side which enabled me to really see how to get into the market and do research, when starting a business,” emphasized Eden.
While the Initial plan of Code for the Future was to train 60 girls, the number increased to 75 due to high interest in the program. The girls received a two days intensive hackathon by experienced programmers divided in three groups of 25 participants per session, which was followed by two-three hours clinical session and entrepreneurship mentoring support in a group of up to four trainees with senior developers to coach them to practical applications.
A jury constituting of experts in business, ICT and innovation selected three finalists as winners who will receive further support by iceaddis and UNESCO to help them translate their ideas and applications into business. UNESCO promised to provide them different international exposures including participation in the WSIS 2019 hackathon in Geneva, the Africa Code Week 2019 in a boot camp in Côte d’Ivoire with the #eSkills4Girls networks or to the UNESCO Netexplo Forum 2019 in Paris. Moreover, all the 24 pitching participants will be invited to attend the Google Hackathon on the side of the World Press Freedom Day global celebration in May 2019 in Addis Ababa.
Code for the Future project is an initiative of UNESCO within the framework of the Youth Mobile initiative and was implemented in collaboration with iceaddis Business Consultancy PLC, a tech hub in Addis Ababa. The project trained young girls on coding and business, targeting those who have basic programming knowledge to equip them with industry level skills and create the opportunity to open a start-up business or get employment in the tech industry, for solving local problems and contribute to sustainable development. For more on the Code for the
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About Code for the Future
The main objective of Code for the Future project is to teach young girls how to code, preparing them for the real world of tech. The girls in the program receive training from senior women developers to learn app development and product packaging, skills which are required by the industry.