Tuesday, 10 October 2017 – 08.00h - 09.15h – Hilton Hotel, Foyer Buenaire, 2nd floor, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Globally, there are fewer women studying and working in careers requiring advanced digital skills. However, many jobs requiring advanced digital skills go unfilled because employers cannot find staff with the requisite skills. To address this issue, BDT has led the International Girls in ICT Day Campaign agreed by ITU Member States in 2010 in Plenipotentiary Resolution 70 (Busan, Rev. 2014). This growing global campaign has reached 300,000 girls and young women in 166 countries worldwide since it was launched. Since that time, as the digital economy takes hold around the world, a number of countries have begun implementing year-round programmes and activities to prepare more young women and girls for ICT studies and careers, effectively making every day Girls in ICT Day. This includes programmes designed to teach girls and young women skills such as mobile app development, how to participate in national pitching contests and provide much-needed mentoring by women role models.
ITU and ILO have also launched the Digital Skills for Decent Jobs for Youth campaign with the ambitious target of training 5 million young men and women around the world with job-ready digital skills. The campaign, launched at the 2017 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum in June, seeks to incentivize stakeholders to train young women and men for the growing number of jobs requiring advanced digital skills and thereby advance digital economies and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The WTDC-17 Women's Breakfast will showcase initiatives and share experiences on facilitating digital skills and job creation opportunities for women and girls. These include steps ITU and its members are taking that are making every day Girls in ICT Day as well as digital skills training programmes and job placement services for young women in support of the Digital Skills for Decent Jobs for Youth campaign. These initiatives aim to contribute to achieving SDG 5 as well as support ICT sector development as a whole. Join us and ride the wave to a bright future for women and girls empowered with digital economy skills.
The side event, which will be conducted Davos style, will conclude with an opportunity for interested stakeholders to pitch their project proposals to prepare more women for careers in the digital economy.
Moderator: Ms Maria Ines Baque, Secretary of Management and Public Innovation, Ministry of Modernization, Argentina
Welcoming remarks: Mr. Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General
Panelists:
- H. E. Mrs. Begum Tarana Halim, State Minister Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Bangladesh
- H. E. Mr Joang Molapo, Minister, Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Lesotho
- Ms. Justina Mashiba, Secretary to the Fund, Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF), Tanzania
- Ms. Mariel Sabra, MIF Specialist, MultilateraI Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
