Namibian Connected African Girls Coding Camp

The Connected Africa Girls Coding Camp is back this year with its 5th edition commissioned by ECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) in partnership with the government of The Republic of Namibia, UN Namibia, UN WOMEN, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),  Telecom Namibia and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The hybrid training targets young African women and girls between 12 to 25 years of age, where 100 from Namibia will be physically attending while over 2000 are expected to join virtually from around the African continent.

Considering the rising global-scale influence of technology in driving sustainable development and growth, strengthening the ICT sector is socially and economically relevant to Africa. According to ITU 2021 report, globally gender remains a factor in disparity where 62 % of men are using the internet compared to 57 % of women. In Africa, where we see the world's most significant digital gender gap, only 24% of women use the internet compared to 35% of men.  Hence, African female participation continues to indicate significant gaps within Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) disciplines. This limited access creates barriers for young women and girls in harnessing the benefits of the internet and increasing their academic and professional participation, especially in technology-based fields.

The African Connected Girls initiative thus endeavors to narrow this digital gap by empowering young African women and girls with the necessary foundational building-block skills to find long-term success in education, employment, and entrepreneurship, while creating a conducive environment for collaborative efforts.

The Namibian Connected African Girls Coding camp will feature four main workshops on animation, web development & gaming, IoT & robotics, and 3D printing. Graphic design is included as a common course in line with artificial intelligence, design thinking, and computational thinking. This camp will also feature master classes on Gender-Based Violence, UN SDGs, and Agenda 2063 including personal development skills.

On the final day of the camp, an innovation fair will be organized enabling the girls to showcase their projects developed during the coding camp by targeting solution-oriented ideas in response to the continent’s socio-economic challenges. In the last four editions of the coding camp, trainees have developed 198 innovative projects, of which 40 were recognized for their contributions to the community.