Women and Information Society NGO - Celebration Girls in ICT International Day in Armenia

4/25/2019

CIS, Armenia, American University of Armenia, Marshal Baghramyan Avenue, Yerevan, Armenia

In the frame of the celebration “Expand Horizons, Change Attitudes” forum was held at the American University of Armenia (AUA) to encourage Armenian girls to choose a career in information and communication technologies.

International “Girls in ICT” Day is celebrated on the fourth day of the fourth week of the fourth month every year. International “Girls in ICT” Day, an initiative backed by all International Telecommunication Union Member States in ITU Plenipotentiary Resolution 70,  aims to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of ICTs, enabling both girls and technology companies to reap the benefits of greater female participation in the ICT sector. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the body of the United Nations in charge of information and communication technologies (ICT).

 ‘Girls in ICT’ day has been celebrated in Armenia since 2012 by primary initiation of Women and Information Society NGO. This event raises girls and young women’s awareness of vast possibilities ICTs offer, quelling misconceptions about the sector and inviting them to envision their future as ICT creators.

Today’s world is already digital. The ICT industry needs girls to take an active part in shaping our future.

In the frame of the celebration Aram Hajian, Dean of College of Science and Engineering  stressed the importance of young girls and women's involvement in ICT sector as it is the future of the world and the country.

With great interest the attendees watched the video message from Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of  Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), ITU for International Girls in ICT Day 2019.

Narine Abazian, head of ''Women and Information Society'' NGO spoke about the projects implemented in Armenia by the NGO to raise young girls' and women’s interest in this sector and to consider the sector as a good hub for the future of career building. She also underpinned the role and significance of Technovation project implementation in Armenia for the last three years.

This year more than five hundred schoolgirls and mentors from Armenian schools have participated in “Technovation Armenia 2019” program; the World’s largest technology entrepreneurship competition for girls. During 12-week training, they have learned four modules: coding, business, marketing and presentation.

Young girls formed teams with five members, identified a problem in their community, developed a mobile app to solve it, and to launch a start-up.

Fifty-one mobile applications have been developed by Armenian young schoolgirlsin the course of the program.

 Celebration of the International “Girls in ICT” Day is a good opportunity for schoolgirls to share their developed application with their peers, as well to share with interesting meetings and speak about the acquired new skills during app development.

This year in the frame of the celebration schoolgirls (10-18 aged) from Yerevan and regions of Armenia participated in the event and presented the mobile applications which they had developed for the International competition Technovation.

The second part of the meeting was moderated by Ruzanna Stepanyan, Head of ICT Department of National Institute of Education and Ani Manukyan, Project Manager of Women and Information Society NGO.

Both Mrs. R. Stepanyan and A. Manukyan emphasized the importance of possessing 21^st century skills and competences to be able to follow global tendencies and keep up with them. Mrs. Stepanyan sheared her experience with the participant teams by encouraging them to go ahead and further develop their applications to bring them to live.

Mrs. A. Manukyan mainly spoke about the skills and competences the program gives and how to disseminate their knowledge with peers, mentors, administration of the schools, etc. She also stressed the fact that knowledge-based environment creation is a must and it should be achieved with the schoolgirls direct support.

Everyone present at the event was excited by the ideas developed by various teams and looked forward to presenting their applications to the judges of the local competition in Armenia in May 2019.

Good luck to the teams.

The participants were from different marzes of Armenia and from Yerevan.

The forum was organized by the ‘Women and Information Society’ NGO, with the support of the National Institute of Education of the Republic of Armenia, the American University of Armenia and with information support from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The forum was funded through a U.S. Department of State Public Affairs Section grant.

# # #

 Established in 2011, Women and Information Society is a non-profit Armenian organization that aims to empower women and girls in Armenia through information and communication technologies integrating them in the information society in Armenia. NGO activities are aimed at increasing the participation of women and girls in education, workforce, entrepreneurship, and leadership in ICT and related sectors. The organization partners with various stakeholders from private and public sectors (local and international)