Women and Information Society NGO, “Expand Horizons, Change Attitudes” forum

4/26/2017

CIS, Армения, Yerevan, Armenia

Yerevan, Armenia – On April 27, Armenia celebrated the international ‘Girls in ICT’ day.

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 (Rev. Busan, 2014), 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).

The ‘Girls in ICT’ day has been celebrated in Armenia since 2012.

Girls in ICT Day events raises girls and young women’s awareness of the 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.

This year more than two hundred school-girls and fifty mentors from Armenian schools have participated in “Technovation” program - 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 max five members teams, identified a problem in their community and developed a mobile app to solve it, and launch a start-up.

 Twenty- three mobile applications have been developed by Armenian young schoolgirls in 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) from Yerevan and regions of Armenia participated in the event and presented the mobile applications which they had developed for the International competition Technovation. In the frame of the celebration  Aram Hajyan, Dean of  College of  Science and Engineering,  Anahit Ordyan,  Director of Administration of American University of Armenia, stressed the importance of young girls and women's involvement in ICT sector as it is the future of the world and the country. 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 it as a good hub for the future of career building. She also underpinned the role and significance of Technovation project implementation in Armenia this year.

23 teams of schoolgirls from different schools in Armenia were present at the event (junior and senior teams; age 10-18) with their mentors and presented their applications for solving a specific problem in their communities. Among them were mobile applications for the blind, for people with hard hearing, safe internet, garbage management, helping vulnerable group people with transportation, inclusive education and many others. The teams introduced the process of creating their applications with their pitch and demo. Everyone present at the event was excited by the ideas and looked forward to presenting their applications to the judges of the local competition in Armenia on May 5, 2017. Then the mobile applications have to be considered by the international online competition.

Good luck to the teams.

After forum it was organized expo about mobile applications developed by youth girls with support of their mentors.

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

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The “Women and Information Society” NGO was established in September 2011 with the mission to contribute to the integration of women and girls in the information society of Armenia. The organization is based on the partnership of many stakeholders, including the private sector, the government, the academia and the non-profit sector, with the goal to leverage resources and research, build awareness, and promote programs, which will remove the barriers that restrict girls and women to use information and communication technologies (ICT). Hence NGO activities are aimed at increasing the participation of women in education, entrepreneurship, and leadership in ICT and related sectors.