Women and Information Society NGO

5/17/2017

CIS, Армения, Yerevan, Armenia

On 17 of May the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day the UN Armenia Office hosted a group of Armenian schoolgirls who presented their mobile apps created within Technovation Armenia project. The exhibition of mobile applications has been organized, as well the awards ceremony of the winning groups took place.

In her opening speech Armineh Haladjian, officer-in-charge of the UNO/DPI Yerevan office, said: “The theme of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is “Big Data for Big Impact”. This means that correct processing and analysis of data, figures and statistics can bring great benefits and drive development. The work fulfilled by the schoolgirls is a testimony to this. Using different data and information the girls have been able to create mobile apps with the help of which it is possible to solve some small but concrete problems of their selected SDG field.”

This year ‘’Women and Information Society’’ NGO in cooperation with Technovation is delegated as the “regional ambassador’ to organize the competition in Armenia.

The President of the “Women and the Information Society” NGO Narine Abazian said: “This project was important  because the participants acquired technological entrepreneurship knowledge and skills and suggested solutions to a number of Sustainable Development Goals, concerning their communities.”

 Female students from different Armenian schools aged 10-18, had an opportunity to participate in the world’s largest Technological Entrepreneurship Technovation  Project. During the 12 weeks of the initiative, the teams consisting of 5 girls looked into themes related to the Sustainable Development Goals (environment, poverty, peace, equality, education and healthcare) choosing one concerning their community and with the help of the acquired relevant skills created mobile applications that would solve those problems.

During the project, teams consisting of up to 5 girls, with the guidance of their mentors, participated in the four-part training program comprising of coding, business, marketing and pitch. The teams created their apps using APP Inventor program developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 36 teams participated in this competition-training but only 22 of them reached the semi-finals.

The jury selected 6 winning teams representing the Karby secondary school, Ashtarak School #2, Yerevan Schools #2, #92, #125 and “Anania Shirakatsi” Lyceum. The teams were awarded with tablets and smart phones. UN Armenia had prepared small gifts for all the participants of the winning teams.

The Technovation Armenia project was organized by initiation the “Women and the Information Society” NGO and  the National Institute of Education of the Republic of Armenia. The project was supported by the UN Armenia Office, the American University of Armenia, the Union of Employers of Information and Communication Technologies, the Synopsys Armenia Company, the “Unicomp” Company and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation.