Niamey, Niger - On March 1, 2023, the 7th edition of the Connected African Girls Coding Camp came to a successful close at the Palais Des Congrais Conference Center. This coding camp was one of the pre-events of the 9th session of the African Regional Forum for Sustainable Development (ARFSD-9). The event brought together 108 young African women and girls aged between 17 to 25, along with close to 4,500 virtual participants who joined remotely.
The coding camp, organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the West Africa Sub-Regional Office, UN Women, and ITU in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Niger’s Ministry of Post and the New Information Technology, aims to empower 100,000 young African women and girls with foundational building-block skills for digital education, employment, and entrepreneurship by 2025. The initiative seeks to narrow the digital gender gap and create a conducive environment for collaborative efforts and innovation through capacity-building initiatives and mainstreaming of ICT. Over 25,000 trainees from six target countries have benefited from this coding camp in the last six editions.
The 7th edition of the Connected African Girls Coding Camp featured an eight-day intensive boot camp at Niger’s Higher School of Telecommunications, targeting five main workshops on Robotics, IoT & AI, Scratch Programming, Web Development, 3D Printing, and Turtle Stitch. The trainees convened a well-received 2-day innovation fair at the Palais des Congres Conference Center showcasing 23 prototypes for ARFSD-9 participants, and several national and international officials.
On the closing and award ceremony, H.E. Mr. Antonio Pedro, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Acting Executive Secretary, assured that ECA will continue to prepare young women to lead the fourth industrial revolution by championing initiatives such as Connected African Girls. The innovation fair was visited by H.E. Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, who encouraged the Nigerien girls to be a model in Africa and the world, saying "I am very happy to see what you have done; to present what you have learned and what you have achieved. I believe that if you have achieved this in a short time, there is nothing you cannot do".
Representatives from the Ministry of Post and the New Information Technology (MPNTI), ECA West Africa Sub-Regional Office, UN Women Niger, and ITU Africa Region Office were present to make their closing remarks, visit the exhibition and congratulate the trainees on their successful completion of the workshop. On his closing remarks, Mr. Raliou Sidi Mohamed, Secretary-General of MPNTI, expressed gratitude to all organizers and partners for making this possible and encouraged participants to capitalize on this knowledge and persevere to achieve their goals.
Mactar Seck, Chief of Technology and Innovation Section at ECA, noted "The Connected African Girls Coding Camp is a testament to the importance of empowering young African women and girls to bridge the digital gender gap and contribute to sustainable development on the continent" while wishing all trainees success on their future endeavour as leaders and innovators.
Overall, seven projects and (33) trainees were awarded for their outstanding innovation projects. Notable model projects from the workshops included the submerged pump model that works with solar energy and is equipped with a filter to remove impurities from well water, soil fertility measuring tools, mine detectors, a waste alerting platform, as well as awareness creating animation on early marriage, dropping out of school and keeping girls in school.
The project ‘Biliary Prothesis (Stent)’, a 3D model for pancreatic cancer and viral hepatitis surgery presented by the group Raman Medical Solutions, aimed to contribute to the field of good health and well-being for sustainable development has been awarded special recognition in memory of our esteemed colleague Mrs. Aster Gebremariam who was fully involved in the Connected African Girls Coding Camp T.
Mrs. Aster Gebremariam joined ECA in the year 2000 and served as Program Management Officer until her passing. Throughout her tenure, Aster demonstrated unwavering dedication and competence in her work, leaving a lasting impression on all those who had the privilege of working alongside her.