Gender Breakers in Technology(GBT) - Girls in ICT Day Cameroon

4/22/2019

Africa, Cameroon, Douala, Cameroon

About the Organization - GENDER BREAKERS IN TECHNOLOGY (GBT)

GBT is a Cameroon based organization, founded in 2018. The main objective being to spark interest and confidence in young women and girls toward pursuing and excelling in a STEM related career. Our work spans through three principal stages: (1) creating awareness, (2) follow up and mentorship, and finally (3) lobbying for internship and job placements, and also incubating entrepreneurial ideas.

We are currently building a mentorship network of current students and graduates from engineering Universities and institutions across the country, while carrying out sensitization with girls in Secondary Schools in Cameroon.

About the Event – Celebration of the International Girls in ICT Day.

GBT will celebrate the International Girls in ICT beginning at the Horizon Bilingual Academic Complex, Douala Cameroon, on April 22, 2019. During this event, the GBT team will sensitize young female students about the prospects and the bright future of a career in a STEM related subject, and to break the stereotype about the inability of the girl child to be a successful professional in a STEM career. Secondly, the GBT team will launch a STEM club which will go operational from the next Academic year. This launch will be characterized by practical activities which will be running in the club, the goal being to get young girls initiated in, and to nurture an interest in coding and technology as a whole. During this event also, the GBT team will interview secondary school girls, in order to understand some challenges they face in STEM subjects. From this feedback, will add to the ongoing research on how to mainstream gender in drafting ICT policies and a STEM education curriculum for Secondary Schools.

The second event will hold on April 25, 2019 at the ICT University, Yaounde Cameroon. During this event, the GBT will run a workshop with female undergraduate students in the department of Information and Communication Technology. The theme of the workshop will be “Making the most of time spent in school in preparation to overcome post-graduation Challenges in the ICT field”