DigiGirlz - Inspiring young girls to understand the power of digital platforms!
On International Women’s Day, UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV and CAPRISA Associate Scientific Director, Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, delivered one of the opening talks at Microsoft’s MakeWhatsNext Campaign launch of the digiGirlz initiative. DigiGirlz is designed to inspire young girls to ‘understand the impact of the digital platforms and equip them with leadership skills in the digital space’. The event facilitated by Go Digital SA Foundation was in partnership with Microsoft Foundation, CAPRISA and the eThekwini Metro.
About 150 young, 14-18 year old, high school students from four schools in KwaZulu-Natal attended a three-day workshop at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College campus where they got a sense of what greater engagement and involvement of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can accomplish. The interactive workshop included sessions on coding and designing an App, the skills required in future workplaces and how innovation and digital technologies are transforming this space. The workshop is the start of continued investments in these promising young women’s training in coding.
“The girls displayed immense enthusiasm to learn and understand new knowledge in the complex digital technology sphere that was indeed impressive and inspiring,’ said Professor Abdool Karim. “We must create opportunities such as digiGirlz to harness the untapped talent that lies in young girls, particularly those who have had very little exposure to science and technology.”