A growing participation in the Nigerian tech space is one of the goals the key players in the industry hope to achieve. Generally, when discussing the tech industry, a few issues such as the general state of the ecosystem demographic, and existing situation regarding inter-personnel relations come up. We want to see more ladies in tech and we want to eliminate sexism in tech. We also want to spark kids’ interest in ICT so there would be budding growth in the work force. These discussions have reformed the entire tech scene but like I say, there’s always room for improvement.
The barriers-to-entry we’ve been trying hard to bring down are sexism and ageism, but we haven’t paid as much attention to classism. Not any more, if Abisoye can help it. Along with the rest of her team, she’s working to get girls from the bottom of the pyramid into the technology space.
GirlsCoding is an initiative from PearlsAfrica, co-founded and coordinated by Abisoye Ajayi. What it does is equip young girls with functional IT skills so they can have a chance at economic independence. These 10 – 17 year-old girls usually come from public schools, orphanages and other places where flexing your technological muscles isn’t on anyone’s minds. The girls are drilled in programming, UI design and animation, but that’s not all. They are also encouraged to build relationships with female mentors in the technology space so they’re sure they are moving in the right direction. This project has sustainability covered.
So far, the project’s scope is limited to Lagos, but…baby steps. How successful has it been? Very. There’s participation and there’s support.
They’ve been to Makoko
Hello @toluogunlesi meet our girls from Makoko slum, learning how to code. #GirlsCoding now they are addicted. pic.twitter.com/627Px9KEqU
— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) February 24, 2016
The girls learn cool stuff
Supporting @pearls_Africa and @AbisoyeAjayi to introduce #girlscoding to #robotics @BudgITng Yaba. pic.twitter.com/CBEdzxyx52
— Brainiacs STEM & Robotics (@Brainiacs_Ng) March 5, 2016
There’s support from other companies in the tech ecosystem
We cannot thank @BudgITng enough for their support towards #girlscoding
We appreciate your effort pic.twitter.com/Wn1YmOLuOU— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) March 5, 2016
Still in the gratitude mode – a big thank you to @iaboyeji for his support towards #GirlsCoding pic.twitter.com/S7pn93R3n8
— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) March 5, 2016
Participants have been successful
Hello @codeorg Have you seen this? young girls from the slum in Nigeria earned their #HourOfCode certificates pic.twitter.com/M7tkOnZX7v
— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) February 15, 2016
Obviously
Meet Lolade, one of our girls from #GirlsCoding she is now on internship, making a presentation. #IWD2016 #SDG5 pic.twitter.com/w5q23aT7Oi
— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) March 8, 2016
And they are able to transfer the knowledge they have garnered
When we see our intern train her peers – we are excited. #HTML class today with #GirlsCoding #LetGirlsLearn pic.twitter.com/IjUh5aWTB2
— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) March 12, 2016
This is Sharon, educating her peers on #HTML #GirlsCoding
This makes us happy when our girls teach each other. pic.twitter.com/alCnuHXWNP— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) March 19, 2016
Their families are not left out, either
Last week, we took a trip to the slum again to visit our girls' parents. Still about #GirlsCoding #LetGirlsLearn pic.twitter.com/uI3ug6iuBC
— Pearls Africa (@Pearls_Africa) March 17, 2016
To quote PearlsAfrica, “when the world invests in girls and women, everybody wins”. It’s great that they are taking down economic boundaries. The goal is to create interest regardless of background and this is an amazing way to achieve this. With the proliferation of the ICT scene in Nigeria, initiatives like GirlsCoding ensures a well-rounded approach. GirlsCoding is branching out to Akure. Don’t you love it when great ideas are successful?
