In Senegal, the digital revolution is a crucial step towards socioeconomic development and gender equity. Young women, particularly in rural areas, face significant challenges, including limited access to quality education and socio-cultural constraints. Our new initiative aims to change this by introducing them to computing, equipping them with valuable skills for the modern job market, and enhancing their participation in community decision-making and nation-building.
From October 2023 to January 2024, a collaborative initiative with the local NGO Concept is providing comprehensive computer literacy and coding courses to young women and girls across Senegal. The Basic Computer Course (ICB) is 20 hours long and targets 400 women and young girls aged 14 to 24. A total of 20 courses are being offered, with two trainers facilitating each course.
The other course, dedicated to coding, runs for 10 hours, with a maximum of 10 students per course. For this course we used the STM32 Nucleo board and the ST Starter kit offered by Vittascience. From the initial group of 400, 80 women and young girls were selected.
All the trainers involved in these two courses received an online “Train the Trainer” course in Dakar last December 2022.
This January, the training commenced across our Delivery Units (DU Labs) in Dakar, Guinguineo, Ziguinchor, and Thiès, training 80 young girls and women in coding, opening doors to new opportunities and empowering them to contribute to their communities and the nation.
If you are a local NGO in Senegal and wish to join us in this initiative, get in touch with us!
Concept
Concept was created in July 1996 and recognized as an association in December 1996. It was then approved as a development support NGO by Ministerial Decree No. 002265/MDSSN/DDC/DONG on April 9, 2002.
The NGO is present in 6 regions with its headquarters in Dakar and three branches in the regions of St-Louis, Louga, and Kaffrine. We have interventions in about fifteen African countries and in Europe.
Our staff is qualified and experienced, including a zootechnician engineer, four engineers in planning and organizational management, a sociologist, an economist, four specialized social workers, three assistant accountants, twelve trainers in technical and professional fields, two specialists in gender, governance, and citizenship, two specialists in human rights with a particular focus on child protection, about ten trainers in financial education and life skills development, and around a hundred community members. More at: https://ongconcept.sn/
