UN Women takes digital skills to Mzimba girls

UN Women is set to train girls from four secondary schools in Mzimba District in digital skills to boost their chances of pursuing careers in information and communications technology (ICT) field.

The four-year Malawi Girls Can Code Too Initiative Project to be implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education under the Directorate of Science, Innovation and Technology, will focus on ICT, coding and digital literacy.

Speaking in Mzimba on Tuesday when UN Women briefed M’Mbelwa District Council’s executive committee on the programme, the council’s director of education, youths and sports Fiddes Msowoya said girls have always played second fiddle to boys when it comes to ICT.

“Most girls are capable of venturing into ICT field, but they always lag behind boys. So we welcome this programme because it will help to bridge the gap in ICT field,” she said.

UN Women Malawi women economic empowerment programme specialist Annie Chikoko said the programme aims at reducing the digital gender divide and economically empower girls and young women through increased digital skills, access and technology adoption by 2026.

She said they expect girls who will graduate from the project to come up with applications to address social and other problems.

Ministry of Education science, innovation and technology officer Justus Nkhata said they were ready to provide technical guidance to the the programme.

In Mzimba, the programme will target Mzimba, Euthini and Katoto secondary schools as well as Nkhorongo Community Day Secondary School.

The project is funded by the Embassy of Ireland to the tune of two million euro targeting Mzimba, Dowa, Lilongwe, Dedza, Balaka, Zomba, Blantyre and Thyolo districts.