400 women have been empowered with ICT usage skills through Intel’s “She Will Connect” programme that was conducted at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in Nairobi.
The training was facilitated in collaboration with the Ministry of Devolution and Planning and the women were drawn from The League of Kenyan Women Voters, a non-partisan member organization that provides a forum through which women can take part in national decision making processes and leadership.
The Intel She Will Connect program was launched earlier in the year. In Kenya, the programme aims to train 2,000 young women in digital literacy skills by the end of the year through Pasha Centres in a number of counties. The program already runs in 35 Pasha Centres spread over 27 counties.
Dr. Mark Matunga, Corporate Affairs Group Manager at Intel East Africa said said that despite women doing 60 percent of the world’s work and producing 50 percent of the world’s food, they only make 10 percent of the world’s income and own 1 percent of the world’s assets.
Additionally, women reinvest 90 percent of their income to their communities. At Intel, we believe empowering Kenyan women through improved technology access will in turn spur economic growth for Kenya as a whole.
“We are aiming to provide skills and resources needed to empower women to get and stay online safely,” he said.
Intel is also collaborating with the Kenya ICT Authority, The Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, Safari Connect and The Youth Banner, a Pasha Business Development Consultant for the ICT Authority, to boost digital literacy in Kenya.
The programme has a lofty target of reaching 5 million women and reducing the gender gap by 50 percent in the sub-Saharan region. A major motivation for launching the programme was the Women and the Web report released by Intel last year revealing the enormous Internet gender gap in the developing world and the social and economic benefits of securing Internet access for women.
On average, nearly 25 per cent fewer women than men are online in developing countries, this translates into 200 million fewer women than men online today. The gap is largest in Sub-Saharan Africa where the gap is estimated at a whopping 43 percent.
Source: Ventures Africa
