Tech4Dev, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating access to decent work, entrepreneurship opportunities, and platforms for Africans, has announced plans to empower five million African girls and women by 2030. To this end, the organisation is calling for applications for its Women Techsters 2023 Fellowship programme.
According to the organisation, the Women Techsters Fellowship, launched in 2021, is a year-long immersive training and experiential learning program for young girls and women across Africa to acquire deep tech skills through 6 months of intensive training, 6-month internship, and mentorship. The programme designed using globally recognized standardized learning curriculums across the 8 learning tracks ensures the best learning experience to deliver the right outcomes.
Tech4Dev disclosed that in its first year, the Women Techsters Fellowship received over 4,800 applications from 19 countries, accepted 338 beneficiaries into the programme, which is a 7 per cent acceptance rate from 5 countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa. It added that Women Techsters Fellowship seeks to do even more this year.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos to announce the 2023 Fellowship, the Women Techsters Initiative lead, Blessing Ashi, highlighted the objectives of the Women Techsters Initiative. According to her, "the objectives of the Women Techsters Initiative are to empower girls and women interested in careers in technology to access the right learning opportunities, enable them to gain access to decent jobs within the technology ecosystem, and equip them with the right skills needed to thrive through its programs such as the Women Techsters Open Day, Bootcamp, Masterclass, and the Fellowship."
She added that the organisation’s desired outcome by 2030 is to have 70 per cent of its trained women gain access to decent jobs; 25 per cent of them go on to study technology-related courses and 5 per cent of them build and run technology-enabled and deep tech startups.
Also speaking, Co-founder and Executive Director, Tech4Dev, Oladiwura Oladepo, said the initiative plans to expand this year and introduce more learning tracks. “This year, we will be empowering 50,000 women within the Women Techsters initiative across eight learning tracks, namely; Software Development, Product Design, Cybersecurity, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence, Product Management, Mobile Applications Development, Blockchain and Mixed realities & 3D Animation.”
“We have launched a call for the Women Techsters Fellowship across 15 countries: Ethiopia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa, and the deadline for applications closes on April 17th. Thus far, we have received over 12,000 applications in the last five weeks across 31 countries of residence, including countries in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia," she added.
The Founder/Director of Development, Joel Ogunsola, reaffirmed Tech4Dev's goal in using technology skills and jobs as tool to effectively bridge economic inequality gaps amongst young Africans and young underserved populations globally – improving economic livelihood and equal access to decent work opportunities for girls and women.
Application for the Fellowship can be made via https://www.womentechsters.org/
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