SENEGAL-WOMEN IN ICT Tech hub in Senegal targets women to boost number of IT jobs.

Record ID: 494327

  • Title: SENEGAL-WOMEN IN ICT Tech hub in Senegal targets women to boost number of IT jobs.
  • Date: 2nd October 2014
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF ANIMATION DESIGNED BY YOUNG GIRLS AT THE TRAINING
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Senegal
  • Country: Senegal
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VS645RLF5746AHEZ7QLOE0YQ
  • Story Text: Jjiguene, which means "woman' in the local Wolof language, is a hive of activity as young girls and their female trainers huddle around computers, hard at work.
    With the objective of promoting the use ICT and reduce the digital divide amongst women and young girls, a group of female entrepreneurs have set up Senegal's first tech hub, run by women, for women.
    This month, Jjiguene is running the first in many courses for girls aged between 10 and 18-years-old as well as as older women.
    Courses range from a basic introduction to IT like using programmes such as Microsoft Word to computer coding including programmes such HTML and CSS.
    "In our training, we have a section where we teach coding which allows us to know the girls, and to find which girls will be interested in IT. After that we teach them about HTML and CSS and we have noticed that many of them are interested in IT and they get excited when they find out that they can create their own websites and that they have a lot to contribute in this field. We think that many of them will go on to pursue this and further their studies in this field," said IT engineer and trainer Ndeye Binta Fall.
    At the moment the tech hub offers lessons for free, which have been a big hit among the young participants.
    "I learnt coding and now I am more often on the internet instead of staying at home to watch television. I even want to create a website, because I am really interested in IT. I used to just browse the internet, and was just on the internet but now I know how to create a website," said 11-year-old, Aida Emilie Mbaye.
    For some, the tech hub has opened their eyes to the different opportunities that IT offers, and are now considering studying IT at university.
    "We often think that IT is something for boys and there are no girls in that field, but when you come for training such as this, you realise that it's not that complicated. There should be more opportunities for people to learn. It's something that's doable and it's something that makes us think about our future and what we want to do," said another participant, 18-year-old Christelle Maguy Sio.
    Although official figures are unavailable, a recent report by the International Youth Foundation, said that women held only 35 percent of jobs in IT in the country.
    With internet facilitated business contributing around 3.3 percent of Senegal's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- one of the highest levels for any African country, according to a 2013 McKinsey Global Institute, the founders Jjiguene wanted to tap into that growing field and boost female representation in IT.
    "The idea of JJguene tech is to bring women together to share their experiences but also to equip them with new knowledge. That's why we organise training courses, which are different from other institutions. The training heavily focuses on what the participants want to learn or to teach them skills that will help them find employment and so on," said co-founder Binta Coudi Diop.
    With the number of women attending courses at Jjiguene having grown from four to 65 in under two years, founders hope that Senegal's thriving IT sector can continue to be a place of innovation where women can make a difference.
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