Helping girls in northern Nigeria take their first digital step

Code Queens is a 10-week hands-on coding course designed to get young women interested in STEM careers. To graduate, students must participate in a hackathon that asks them to solve a real-world business challenge through coding.

The Nigeria-based Bauchi Feminist Internet School is bridging the gender gap in digital literacy and safety in the country. The school teaches youth, primarily young women, how to safely use the internet and encourages them to advocate for change.

The Osun Girls Can Code program provides young women with a week of hands-on training in website development, app development, and coding to help bridge the access gap to technology-related jobs in Nigeria.

JamieSue Goodman, an employee at Google, was part of the team that developed an Applied Digital Skills curriculum that teaches students how to use technology to accomplish real-world tasks. Available for educators worldwide, 360,000 students have used the materials since its launch and 50,000 teachers have registered on the site. Students and teachers alike attest to how fun, engaging, and useful the education is.

Targeted plumbing training programs are providing women with life-changing skills, independence, and career opportunities. Led by initiatives such as the German government aid agency GIZ and the Wise Women Plumbers Cooperative, hundreds of women have become licensed plumbers, overcoming societal stigma to gain economic empowerment, improve local water management, and shift perceptions around women's roles.

Women fisherfolk in Kenya are starting fish farms in Lake Victoria, aided by smartphones and technology that help them track the health and needs of the fish. Owning farms gives them financial freedom and prevents the sexual exploitation women often face when bargaining for fish.

The Youngstars Foundation shares booklets with young girls of stories about women who have succeeded in their careers to inspire them to find a new sense of confidence and establish their own ambitious career goals. Between 2017 and 2019, 5,000 booklets were distributed to 4,500 young girls across 36 states. The Foundation also has an online module for the program, which over 18,000 young women and girls have signed up for.

To combat unemployment, the Girls2Women Initiative runs 6- to 12-week training programs for girls and women in underserved communities in Nigeria. During this time they learn skills they can use to find a job or start their own business in industries like graphic design, decor, and tailoring.

The Nana Female Mechanic Workshop in Sokoto, Nigeria, helps women gain the skills to pursue careers in mechanics and gain economic independence. The all-female workshop only attends to cars owned by women and is intended to combat gender-role stereotypes.

Deaf Technology Foundation offers weekly activities to train Deaf students in programming, robotics, and other computer science skills. The sessions, which are taught using sign language, have served roughly 1,600 students so far.