Girls in ICT is a program to equip girls and young women for a career in ICT. It aims to encourage girls to actively participate in ICT careers and provide opportunity for girls to learn the fundamental skills they need to be competitive in an increasingly technological world. Through specially tailored activities, the program will help young women think outside the box in the use and production of technology.

EKO-KONNECT CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL GIRLS IN ICT DAY 2018 THEMED “DECODING MY FUTURE - CODE IN MY FUTURE”

Eko-konnect joined International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to celebrate the International girls in ICT day on Thursday, 26th April 2018. The event themed “Decoding my Future – The Code in my Future” was aimed at encouraging secondary school girls to pursue ICT related careers by exposing them to new trends in technologies that can be applied in various industry sectors. The event was held at the Department of Computer Science, University of Lagos.

Pupils from various secondary schools (Mbari Mbayo Secondary School, Reagan Memorial Baptist College, Yaba College of Technology Secondary School, St. Timothy’s College and Federal Science and Technical College Yaba) came with their ICT teachers to the event.

Guest speakers included Dr Florence Oladeji, from the Department of Computer Science, University of Lagos, Aisha Bello (Django Girls Lagos) and, Dr Olamma Iheanetu, Department of Computer Science, Covenant University. Each speaker relayed their experiences as female professionals in ICT and the impact that emerging technologies will have in different sectors of the society now and in the near future.

Demonstrations by Imisi3D showed how virtual reality using headsets can be used in education while Eko-konnect staffs, Kafayat Adeoye and Uffa Modey demonstrated how voice recognition software using Amazon’s Echo Dot was engineered. The girls were introduced to Raspberry Pis and a demonstration of how Raspberry Pi's can control a Finch Robot with Python code was shown. In addition the girls saw how raspberry pi's could be used as a voice recognition device after integration with Google assistant voice SDK.

Goodness Agboh, Programs Officer Eko-konnect closed the event by promising the girls present that Eko-Konnect woud liaise with their schools to continue activities to help them and learn more about ICT in innovative ways through the Eko-Konnect ICT Girls Club.

Eko-Konnect Girls In ICT Community Day Wraps Up Women In WACREN Event

The Eko-Konnect Girls In ICT Community Day took place on Saturday 27th January 2018 as the finale to the Women in WACREN Workshop . The community brought together students, lecturers and the women in wacren workshop participants to a day of women's advocacy and activism aimed at encouraging women to take up careers in STEM subjects and looking at ways of overcoming the challenges facing female gender pursuing academic and commercial careers in STEM.

Guest speakers including Mandeep Saini, Head of Software Development, GEANT, Jane Egerton-Idehen, Country Manager, Avanti Satellite Systems and Founder of Women and Career and Ifee Kojo, Country Lead, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Nigeria, spoke to the different issues facing women and girls in STEM education and careers. The speakers touched on different areas including cultural factors affecting female participation in software development, how women should make strategic choices in building ideal skill sets for the 21st century and how girls can take of advantage of being mentored by other skilled and successful women from STEM academia and industry.

In a vibrant question and answers session between the guest speakers and the attendees, varying subject areas affecting women in pursuit of their education and careers in STEM disciplines were discussed in an open and frank manner. The attendees of the community day were inspired and the guest speakers spoke of how touched they were at being present and their optimism of far reaching impact of the community day and workshop for greater female gender participation in STEM related academia, industry and careers for girls.

Eko-Konnect To Host Lagos Edition of Women In WACREN - Physical Computing with Python

In collaboration with the the Entrepreneurship & Skills Development Centre and Faculty of Engineering of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Eko-Konnect will be hosting the Women in WACREN - Physical Computing with Python Lagos edition

The 5 day workshop will run from 22 January to 26 January 2018 followed by a community day on Saturday 27 January https://indico.wacren.net/event/62/ where women from faculty and the tech industry will discuss ways to bridge the gender gap in ICT and STEM development in Nigeria. The Women in WACREN Workshop will help support Eko-Konnect's Girls In ICT initiative aimed at encouraging girls at all levels of education to adopt STEM based subjects in secondary and tertiary education and to fully participate in pursuing careers and entrepreneurship endeavours in the technology sector after graduating from higher education.

Off the back of the workshop, Eko-Konnect will formally relaunch its Campus Technology Internship Program - CTIP in the University of Lagos working in collaboration with the Entrepreneurship & Skills Development Centre and Faculty of Engineering to develop challenge driven education projects with Unilag student interns to use technology to solve challenges in society.

To register for the workshop go to: https://indico.wacren.net/event/61/
Registration deadline is 10 January 2018 and the event is open to females only.

Ford Foundation Awards Grant To Support ICT For Girls

The Ford Foundation has awarded a grant to Eko-Konnect to support its ICT For Girls initiative in the country. The grant will support Eko-Konnect in its development of coding skills for secondary school girls in specific underserved areas of Nigeria.

Commenting on the grant, Mr Owen Iyoha, General Manager of Eko-Konnect said the organisation was pleased with the continued support from Ford Foundation and expected that with this support Eko-Konnect will develop sufficient STEM skills particularly programming for young girls in secondary skills and students in universities. He also hoped that the skills developed would be impactful in the Nigerian research and education network ecosystem. Mr Iyoha also said that a particular focus of development would be on Python coding skills using robots as a learning tool and using raspberry pi's and other IoT platforms to stimulate creativity among students in higher education that would lead to wider entrepreneurship initiatives.

Celebrating Girls in ICT Day 2013

Established by ITU Resolution 70 and aimed at celebrating girls' interests, strengths to encourage them to pursue a career in ICT, the International Girls in ICT Day will be celebrated globally on the 25th of April 2013. In Lagos, Eko-Konnect institutions will jon in with a maiden edition of “Girls in ICT Day”

Event Date and Time:

Thu, 25/04/2013 - 8:00am to 4:00pm

Location:

Centre for Information Technology and Systems, University of Lagos.