OVERVIEW:

Women have made up less than 20 percent of the hires in tech, that needs to change. Girls Code is building a diverse and inclusive tech workforce one you had be proud to be a part of. There’s room for all of us in tech: Coders, marketers, designers, strategists and more are essential to increase the number of girls and women pursuing technology-based and STEM education and careers.

Training both middle and high school girls to work with robotics, mobile application development, animation, the Internet of Things and creation of video games. They learn about marketing technology, digital arts and even the role of IT in community service. The campers also engage their critical thinking skills through exploration of socio-economic issues and ways technology can influence them.

Girls are often discouraged from showing interest in programming or other careers that are typically male-dominated. Girls Code is proving that girls can't only code they can change the world. Girls Code is set to start out as community outreach programs workshops and after-school programs designed to teach underprivileged girls in Africa basic programming languages like Ruby on Rails.

* Robotics
* Application and programming development
* Technical support for online help desks
* Project management
* Web development
* Networking
* Mobile application development
* Animation
* The Internet of Things
* Video games.

As UN Secretary General António Guterres said,

"Gender equality is a human rights issue, but it is also in all our interests: men and boys, women and girls. Gender inequality and discrimination against women harms us all. There is overwhelming evidence that investing in women is the most effective way to lift communities, companies and countries. Women's participation makes peace agreements stronger, societies more resilient and economies more vigorous… Gender equality is the unfinished business of our time".

MISSION & VISION:

World Fund for Development and Planning’s mission under Girls Code project is to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies.

WHY GIRLS:

The Information Communication Technology sector has a pressing need for a wide range of ICT talents and there is a growing gap between the digital skills needed by employers and the number of jobseekers with the required technical know-how.

This means that highly qualified women in technical fields will have a significant number opportunities available to them. However, not enough students are prepared for studying math, engineering, computing, and sciences in higher education. Consequently, the number of female technical students is disproportionately low.

WHAT IS OUR TARGET?

We are targeting girls between 14 -18 years for beginners level and ages 18-40 for the advanced level programs. These programs will be blended with their school studying programs as well as holiday programs.

Outstanding learners will be privileged to work with World Fund for Development and Planning as well its corporate agencies in the private sector arena and our affiliated companies and organisation the fields of Information Technology and programming. These vast opportunities will enable women and girls to transform their lives and communities.

WHY WFDP CHOSE STEM FOR GIRLS:

ICT plays a key role in reducing poverty and promoting social and economic development for themselves, their families and their countries. ICT is an essential tool for the social and economic development of women and girls: technology can be used to provide education as well as jobs, literacy and life skills training.

Girls Code promotes the use of ICTs to accelerate progress towards gender equality and women's empowerment. STEM jobs are growing dramatically as technology continues to evolve. Between 2009 and 2015, the industry increased by 10.5 percent double the growth of comparable non-STEM occupations. In spite of this exponential growth, women only make up 25 percent of the STEM workforce. What is keeping girls from seeking STEM careers?

SEXISM AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Popular media may be focusing on the sexual harassment cases that keep coming out of Hollywood, but this culture is no less pervasive and damaging in STEM fields. It's become such a problem that the former U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California introduced a bill explicitly designed to combat sexism and sexual harassment in the industry.

This bill, dubbed the Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2019, authorizes more than $17 million a year for research into the causes and consequences of sexual harassment in these fields.