Siemens joins forces with UN Women to upskill girls in ICT

Siemens has partnered with United Nations (UN) Women Germany for an upskilling programme for more than 600 young women in South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda.

The joint initiative was launched in April 2022 and now, the first round of workshops has started.

A hybrid event which included a panel discussion hosted at Siemens premises in Midrand on May 31 kicked off the African Girls Can Code (AGCCI) coding camp and the SieMent EmpowHer mentorship programme.

Elke Ferner, UN Women Germany president, expressed delight over the partnership with Siemens to invest in girls’ education and empowerment in Africa.

She said this was an essential driver of sustainable development.

“By working together, we can enable young women to develop future-oriented competencies in a protected environment and empower them with the skills needed to succeed at national and international levels. Most importantly, we raise awareness that taking a stand for women’s rights and educational equality is a social duty for us all.”

SieMent EmpowHer works hand in hand with the AGCCI by connecting experienced female mentors from different Siemens locations around the world with girls aged between 17-25 participating in the upskilling programme.

Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa CEO Sabine Dall’Omo said the programme offers enormous potential to bridge the ICT gender gap on the African continent by training beneficiaries from these countries.

“We are pleased to partner with UN Women Germany to undertake concerted and systematic action to create development opportunities, particularly for girls and young women, and to address their disadvantages. I’m confident that this programme will help break down entry barriers on the continent, facilitate access to education and technology, and heed the call to address gender inequalities,” said Dall’Omo.

Through the SieMent EmpowHer programme coupled with the coding camps, the young women will be offered training and workshops in robotics, cybersecurity, animation, 3D printing, gender equality, women empowerment, leadership, work readiness, and communications to name a few.

“With SieMent EmpowHer, we will bridge the gap between academia and the workplace. By empowering and upskilling young women through mentorship across the African continent, we will help improve their employability by equipping them with a set of skills that will help them generate an income, develop resilience, and contribute to the reboot of transformative growth in Africa,” added Dall’Omo.

In her remarks, Siemens Germany’s chief cybersecurity and chief diversity officer, Natalia Oropeza said teaming up with UN Women on this initiative is helping them to enable young women to gain access to technology, while indirectly addressing inequality.

“I am proud to see our company’s continued commitment to the development of young African women who don’t necessarily have access to skills development opportunities like these. For a country like South Africa and many others in Sub-Saharan Africa, youth unemployment? remains a barrier to progress in the region.”

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