On the 1st of June 2013, if you happened to be at
the KNUST Campus , Computer Science department to be precise, you would have
passed by a very colourful banner announcing an interactive workshop organized
by Soronko Solutions. On this day a movement had begun which will continue
region wide till we bridge the gender gap in technology. The Tech Needs Girls
Interactive Workshop is a hands on workshop that takes girls from Senior
Secondary Schools and offers them the opportunity to be mentored by female computer
scientists on how to code and create technology. The girls are also empowered
to think more entrepreneurial, pursue their passions and careers in science and
technology.
The ultra modern Tech Hub built by Vodafone one of the
sponsors of the event, was the venue for the workshop. 50 girls from 3 Senior
Secondary Schools, Kumasi Anglican Senior Secondary School, Youth Institute for
Science and Technology and Elite College attended the workshop. The girls were
assigned to 8 groups of five with 8 mentors who also served as role models. The
first session broke misconceptions and introduced the girls to other females
who were excelling in careers in Technology. The girls also discovered that a
basic website and mobile application could be developed in 30 minutes. They
even got a chance to witness a simple java application being developed by one
of the mentors in 4 minutes. The next session was a brief talk on
entrepreneurship by the Business Development Manager of VOTO Mobile and how
technology offered a lot of career opportunities for women by Delores Maxwell
the Group Manager of Technology Service Management, Ecobank Group. The girls
also got a chance to see applications built by their mentors who demoed
innovative applications such as an online voting application, an e-learning, e-health
application, android spa game etc. The girls were also introduced to logical
thinking and algorithms through a quick quiz to test their logic skills, the
use of Scratch a visual programming language and Azonto the latest dance craze
from Ghana. They were also taken through how to use social media such as Facebook
and twitter.
During the interactive session saw the girls learnt more
about HTML coding, mobile applications development, Google docs, networking and
social media. The girls also took part in an innovation challenge where they
were asked to develop a technology solution which allowed students who did not
understand what was taught in class to get further information from their
teachers or fellow students. The winning team designed an innovative e-learning
web application that integrated social media, email, SMS and an android mobile application
in their solution. The winning team won wonderful prizes and partial
scholarships to study a Software Development Course at Ghana-India Kofi Annan
Centre of Excellence in ICT the first Advanced Information Technology Institute
(AITI) in Ghana. The winning Group’s mentor was also awarded a prize for
mentoring and guiding her group to think creatively. At the end of the program
each participant received a certificate of participation.
The workshop ended with great feedback from the girls who
enjoyed the session, learnt some coding and believed they could do the
extraordinary. The mentees were also excited at the option of a continuous mentorship
from their mentors. This workshop was made possible by support from Fidelity
Bank Ghana, Diamond Capital, iSpace Foundation, Dreamoval Foundation, Vodafone,
Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, Rolls Communications,
Pepsi, Higrade Media, mFriday, TechHub and Ghana Think.
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