Tech training to enhance participation of girls in ICT

AN independent fibre optic infrastructure and telecommunications services  provider across West Africa, Phase3 Telecom, is soliciting for early education and consistent technology training for the girl child in order to sustain them and active in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) space.

According to the firm, it is collaborating with eBusiness Life Communications to mark the 2015 edition of the globally celebrated International Girls in ICT Day.

The Chief Executive Officer of Phase3 Telecom, Stanley Jegede , said, Girls in ICT initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is a global effort to raise awareness on empowering and encouraging girls and young women to consider studies and careers in ICTs.

To date over 111,000 girls and young women have taken a part in more than 3,500 events held in 140 countries around the world.

In commemoration of the 2015 Girls in ICT, themed “Expanding Horizons and Changing Attitudes”, Jegede, said, early education, digitalized training as well as developing technology skills for women and harnessing those skills promptly, are critical to Africa’s rapid socio-economic development and sustainability.

According to him, “One of the key elements of addressing poverty is the empowerment of women and there is no better way of doing that than ensuring the sustained representation of women in the world of technology to aid rapid socio-economic development in Africa”. He said building a crop of young African girls to actively participate and compete in the evolving as well as innovative global ICT space, is the basis for Phase3 Telecom’s commitment to continue to support the International Girls in ICT day initiative.

Jegede, said he is optimistic that this global evolution will gain greater influence in Africa as more and more institutions and agencies advocate ICT skills for women on the continent. He believes that “young African girls must be encouraged early to see the advantages and dividends of the dynamic and fast-evolving-sector”.

He commended eBusiness Life commitment to the initiative year-on-year to mentor and support girls who have keen interest in walking the ICT career path whether in engineering, design, operations or research.