NGO trains 23,000 women, girls in ICT
An NGO, Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W-TEC) on Friday said that it had trained more than 23,000 women and girls in technology-related careers and businesses since inception in 2008. The Executive Director of W-TEC, Mrs Oreoluwa Lesi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that it empowered 4,000 women and girls in 2017. […]
An NGO, Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W-TEC) on Friday said that it had trained more than 23,000 women and girls in technology-related careers and businesses since inception in 2008.
The Executive Director of W-TEC, Mrs Oreoluwa Lesi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that it empowered 4,000 women and girls in 2017.
Lesi said that W-TEC also partnered with 36 libraries in the Southern Nigeria in 2017.
“ We are an NGO set up to advocate, empower and build capacity of women and girls in Nigeria.
”We do this by providing technology training, boot camps, workshops and seminars for women and girls.
“We aim at inspiring and equipping more young women with skills to become technology creators.
“Women and girls can have access to computers and participate in technology workshops on programming, web design and digital production in the space we are creating,’’ she said.
The executive director said that W-TEC had started a partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Education on an initiative called Code Lagos.
According to her, Code Lagos is aimed at making coding education accessible to about one million Lagos residents.
“W-TEC is working as a delivery partner to implement the programme in schools and public libraries in Lagos State.’’
The executive director said that W-TEC’s passion for empowering women and girls technologically made it to operate afterschool clubs in 10 schools in Yaba, Lagos.
“We aim at inspiring and equipping more young women with skills to become technology creators.
“Women and girls can have access to computers and participate in technology workshops on programming, web design and digital production in the space we are creating,’’ she said.
The executive director said that W-TEC had started a partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Education on an initiative called Code Lagos.
According to her, Code Lagos is aimed at making coding education accessible to about one million Lagos residents.
“W-TEC is working as a delivery partner to implement the programme in schools and public libraries in Lagos State.’’
The executive director said that W-TEC’s passion for empowering women and girls technologically made it to operate afterschool clubs in 10 schools in Yaba, Lagos.
She said that the NGO had also organised five of such clubs on Lagos Island.
Lesi said that the organisation held technology camps in Lagos and Ibadan in 2017.
Lesi said that the organisation held technology camps in Lagos and Ibadan in 2017.
According to her, W-TEC will expand its technology camps to South-East in 2018.
“We will be setting up afterschool clubs in Kwara State; we chose Kwara because, according to our assessment, the number of women in information technology in the state is low.
“We will start by working with five schools but we promise to scale it up to 15 by the end of the year,’’ she said.
Lesi told NAN that involvement in women capacity building had been rewarding to the NGO.
“We have had confidence from our trainees and mentees.
“Some of the women and girls who attended our programmes said they helped them to decide on future careers and businesses.
“About 35 per cent of them are making money using the technology skills they got from our programmes
“It puts a smile on our faces by when we see alumni of our programmes pursue technology-related careers or integrate technology into their businesses,’’ she said.
Lesi said that W-TEC would soon organise a master-class to educate individuals and organisations on strategies to successfully raise funds for online courses.