By William Madouk
Young girls in the primary and secondary schools are set to get information communication technology training to explore more opportunities in the digital space.
This comes after the National Communication Authority (NCA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Go-Girls ICT Initiative organization last Friday to embark on training program among school girls.
Mr. Napoleon Adok Gai, the Director General for NCA, said they struck deal with local organization in order to bridge the gap in the field of information and communication technology.
“The National Communication Authority sought partnership with Go Girls Initiative to achieve the expected goals of mentoring girls in the fields of Information and Communication Technology,” NCA boss Adok said.
The MoU entailed the international obligation of gender equality in ICT sector for South Sudan.
Disparity between women and men in relation to the adoption and their relative chances to access digital technology remains a major barrier to equal participation in online work and e-commerce.
Executive Director and Co-Founder of Go-Girls in ICT Initiative, Eva Yayi Mawa stated that the program would entice school girls to pick interest in building their digital skills.
“The project would encourage the young Girls across the country to pick interest in building technology in future,” Ms. Mawa explained.
NCA started training on digital literacy and cyber safety training for girls in high school in Juba last week.
The Digital Literacy program is 6 weeks Boot camp for girls in high school ages 13-17yrs – it primarily focuses on introducing the basics of computer through practical lessons & assessment to gauge the uptake by students.
It is part of flagship #GIRLSINICTSS programme that seeks to leverage the power of technology to push for #GenderEquality and bridge the digital gender divide in South Sudan.
The program is anchored on @ITU’s agenda for bridging the gender digital divide by empowering women and girls to take on subjects and careers in STEM and take up their places as equal leaders in South Sudan’s Digital Transformation.
As the world celebrated International Women’s Day in March this year, South Sudan remains lagging behind in women representation due to harmful gender norms resulting from patriarchal culture.
Organized under the theme ‘DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for gender equality.’
Go-Girls ICT is a non-profit organization founded by a group of South Sudanese young women in the fields of Computer Science, Information Systems, ICT4D Innovation, hacktivism and peace-building.