ITU and UN Women named Africa Teen Geeks as one of the 15 finalists for the 2017 EQUALS in Tech Awards.
As the flagship event of the EQUALS global network partnership, the annual award ceremony recognizes outstanding projects and programmes around the world that help women and girls cross the digital divide.
Africa Teen Geeks a non-profit organisation that teaches children aged 6-18 how to code. Since its inception in 2014 Africa Teen Geeks with the support of its partners such as the SABC Foundation and the University of South Africa has reached over 38 000 children from disadvantaged communities across South Africa.
In 2017 through its partnership with Oracle Academy, Africa Teen Geeks is enabling children aged 16+ to earn a Junior Java Certificate from Oracle equipping them to be ready to compete in the highly competitive job market or tech entrepreneurship from day one of graduating from high school.
This year, nearly 300 nominations were received from around the globe. These included submissions from a wide range of organizations working to help women to “bridge the digital divide”, including those representing the private sector, government and civil society.
The 15 finalists represent very innovative initiatives that have realized significant results in some of the areas of the world where women are most oppressed. The results of these initiatives has realized real change in the communities that they serve and have opened doors for women to critical digital financial and social benefits. Prizes are awarded for outstanding achievement and innovative strategies, in three categories: Skills, Access and Leadership.
Nominations in the Access category represent initiatives seeking to improve women and girls’ digital technology access, connectivity and security. Those in the Skills category support the development of women and girls’ science, technology, engineering and math skills. Initiatives in the Leadership category promote women in decision-making roles within the information and communication technology field.
Africa Teen Geeks is one of 2 African organisations who made the finalists, the other being Miss Africa Digital Program (Kenya).
The 2017 EQUALS in Tech Awards are being held on 19 December 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland – during the Internet Governance Forum.
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