Women in Information Communication Technology (WICT) at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology have teamed up with the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) to mark this year’s International Women’s Day at an event to be held at the University’s Juja Campus on March 8, 2019.
Business woman and project
The event, whose 2019 campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter, aims to, among other things; inspire women to take up leadership roles, empower women through technology, and promote gender balance. The event, that brings together high school female students mentored by both JKUAT and Zalego, will consist of mentorship sessions, technology workshops, and ignition talks.
According to a joint brief from Mary Munyoki, the programme manager YTF, and Phylis Ngigi, an ICT Officer – Research, Consultancy & Training, and Founder & Lead Women in ICT – JKUAT, women in technology from the private sector companies such as Safaricom, Oracle, UNESCO, IBM and Mastercard are among those that are expected to attend as mentors and guest speakers. Women in ICT –JKUAT is a forum which aims to inform, empower, mentor and inspire girls and youth into ICT opportunities and careers. The group highlights on the significance of ICT in contemporary society and how it traverses all professions and careers.
Others expected to attend are student clubs such as Society of Engineering Students (SES), Society of Computer Science and Information technology (SCOSIT) and the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
According to the brief, the two believe collective action and shared responsibility for driving a gender-balanced world is key, which is why they felt empowering women and girls would be a breakthrough strategy for inclusive sustainable development.
The International Women’s day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
This article was first published on the Jomo Kenyatta Univerity of Agriculture and Technology official site.
