Sep

8

3rd W.TEC Girls Technology Camp

September 8, 2010 | Comments Off

By Oreoluwa

The 3rd edition of the W.TEC Girls Technology Camp has come and gone and thanks to our partners, supporters and by the grace of God it was a successful programme.

Fifteen girls from diverse backgrounds attended the 1-week residential camp and participated in a wide range of workshops from Computer Foundations and introductions to applications like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to technology-centered Career Talks, Gender and Leadership, Etiquette, and Self-Defence.

We received scholarships for some of the girls, in-kind donations and media support from many organizations and individuals, who we express our appreciation to.

These include (in alphabetical order):
• Engr. Oyindamola Adelowo
• BellaNaija
• Champion Newspaper
• Dr. Nadu Denloye
• Laureates College Lagos
• NEXT Newspaper
• NTA Lagos Channel 10
• Omatek Computers
• Rutgers University’s Women in Computer Science group
• Dr. Olatokunbo Somolu
• Technology Times
• TELL Magazine
• The Nation Newspaper
• TW Magazine

We also thank our speakers and facilitators who generously shared their time and expertise (in alphabetical order):
• Engr. Olayinka Abdul (Association of Professional Women Engineers)
• Ms. Toyin Ajao
• Mrs. Ify Anaele (MTN)
• Ms. Eniola Bright
• Mr. Olaleye Dawodu
• Ms. Juliet Ehimuan (Chams)
• The staff and girls of GirlsNet, South Africa
• Ms. Karin ter Horst
• Ms. Bose Ironsi (Women’s Health & Rights Project)
• Mrs. Mavis Isibor (Poise Nigeria)
• Ms. Lola Ma

Jul

6

W.TEC trained participants at the recently-completed capacity building workshop for ‘Women Living Under Muslim Laws’ on strategic e-campaigning. The programme was organised by BAOBAB For Women’s Human Rights in Nigeria and facilitated by Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP).

The training forms part of the WLUML Women Reclaiming and Redefining Cultures Projects and Institute for Women’s Empowerment (IWE). It is the first of two workshops, the second to be conducted in Asia in August 2010. APC WNSP contracted Oreoluwa Somolu (of W.TEC) and Oluwatoyin Ajao to run the training workshop.

It was developed for the main purpose of harnessing ICT for the empowerment of women and girls and for collective mobilisation and advocacy purpose in the cause of women’s human rights advancement.

Training Objectives:
• To share and build knowledge and skills on communication rights and information and communication technologies (ICTs) from feminist perspectives
• To create dynamic spaces to explore and deepen feminist practices and politics of technology
• To raise awareness on the critical role of communication rights in the struggle to advance women’s human rights
• To share skills that will enable participants use technology to effectively document abuses, mobilize support and amplify pressure for change

The participants were all very committed to finding out how online tools and other technology could support their campaigns.

Dec

10

Deadline: January 8, 2010

Carleton University’s Centre for Media and Transitional Societies (CMTS), in collaboration with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is pleased to launch a call for concept notes, in French or English, outlining proposed research examining the impact of convergence between traditional radio and new information and communications technologies (ICTs) in sub-Saharan Africa.

For full details on the research competition, the call for concept notes and the submission process, please visit the project website at www.cmts-cmst.org.

Sep

11

Photos Speak

September 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment

By Toyin

W.TEC was at the Human Development Initiative office yesterday 10/09/2009 delivering a talk on the benefit of ICT for the youth at their “get Global” event.  It was an exhilarating moment to the 23 secondary school students both male and female in attendance to learn about Information and Communication Technology.

Here are few pictures of the event:

Picture 041

Picture 035

Picture 055

Picture 1: W.TEC Executive Driector, Oreoluwa Somolu teaching the class.

Picture 2: Some of the participants/ Students learning and listening on.

Picture 3: W.TEC ED capturing the attention of all the participants/students

Aug

2

The recent and just concluded BlogHer 2009 conference in Chicago, Illinios brought to mind the significance of web 2.0 tools and how it’s impacting lives especially that of women.

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Not less than 1,500 women from various background gathered at  one Sheraton Hotels in Chicago to learn, exchange ideas, teach each other different skills and achieve more together.

BlogHer, a community of women who blog started in 2005 by 3 courageous women namely: Elisa Camahort Page, Lisa Stone and Jory Des Jardins. These super women did not let their die instead they let it flourish.

They extended invitation to 4 International Activists this year and this afforded a Nigerian blogger, a Malawian blogger, an Indian Blogger and a Bolivia blogger that are working on different social issues to partake in this year’s conference.

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Women all over the world are making things happen, their joining in changing the world and all the wrong perspectives  is commendable and worth recognition.

What have you done, to make a change?

Jun

23

The Activist

There are different ways Nigerian female activists or citizens of various background and occupations can contribute to social issues in Nigeria or the world at large. One very quick and free way is through the use of web 2.0 tools such as social netwroking sites, blogs to advance different causes as can be seeing while clicking on the image to the right. This will help promote your cause and help it attract larger audience.

The Tell Magazine recently features one of Nigerian Female bloggers and activists that uses her blog “The Activist” to promote and advance women’s human rights, gender and development  in Nigeria.

There are different ways a blog can be used to contribute to the community. Take a step today and create a blog using free tools provided by blogger.com or wordpress.com, you will be glad you did.

May

17

In commemoration of World Telecoms & Information Society Day (WISD) 2009, W.TEC is sharing some tips which we disseminate to the girls who participate in our programs for staying safe online. This is not a comprehensive list, so feel free to share your own tips and suggestions.

Blogging is a fun way to keep in touch with distant friends, make new ones and tell your own stories. However, there are a few things that you need to know about keeping safe online (‘Online’
means being on an Internet website or weblog. ‘Offline’ means real life i.e. not on the Internet).

May

15

By Oreoluwa Somolu and ‘Gbenga Sesan

May 17 is World Information Society Day. To understand its significance in history, it is important to journey back 144 years ago. That same day in 1865, the first International Telegraph Convention was signed and the International Telegraph Union (the second-oldest international organization in existence) was established. That same institution became the International Telecommunications Union in 1947 – the same year that the transistor was first demonstrated, with the solid-state computer soon to follow. Since 1969, May 17 has been celebrated as the World Telecommunication Day. Thirty-seven years later, following the World Summit on the Information Society, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution which identifies 17 May as World Information Society Day. The day is intended to remind the world of the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society, which promised to build “a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society” based on fundamental human rights. According to the UN resolution, the Day will “help to raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide“.

The Nigerian telecommunications industry – which started with the postal system – is now over 100 years old, but it was only in 1999 that the National Policy on Telecommunications was launched. A National Policy on Information Technology followed in 2001, along with the establishment of the National Information Technology Development Agency, under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. Fortunately, Nigeria’s participation in the World Summit on the Information Society process helped shed more light on the need for Nigeria to benefit from the undeniable convergence that has brought Information Technology, telecommunications and content together for good. At about the same period in Nigeria’s history, a telecommunication revolution was born – with the number of telephone lines growing from 450,000 in 2000 to over 14 million lines in 2005, and now 66.6 million, thanks to independent regulation through the Nigerian Communications Commission, private sector participation, broadened competition, and consumer spending. Many benefits have come to the Nigerian Information Society since then, including a rapid rise in the number of Internet users from 200,000 in 2000 to 10 million today! Many of these users are also contributing to the growth of local content on the World Wide Web, which was previously lacking in content from Nigeria. The private sector and civil society (including the media) also continue to add immense value, using varied models to work towards the task of bridging the digital divide.

Building a strong and vibrant information society that is accessible to all Nigerians is at the heart of W.TEC and PIN’s work. The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is a Nigerian non-governmental organization helping to empower Nigerian girls and women socially and economically using ICTs. This is done through technology literacy training, technology-based projects, mentoring, work placement and research. Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) is a social enterprise that connects young people – especially those in underserved communities – with the opportunities that ICTs provide. We do this through our Ajegunle.org initiative, Information Society research, capacity building sessions for youth across Nigeria and the Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria, among others. PIN’s program graduates have gone on to demonstrate the impact of ICTs on their small-scale businesses and through inspiring career progress!

This year, W.TEC and PIN wish to commemorate the World Information Society Day by appreciating ongoing initiatives in various sectors and calling on all stakeholders (government, private sector, civil society, media, individuals, etc) to act faster on efforts that will improve Nigeria’s opportunity to maximise the benefits of the Information Society. Please join us to spread the message, “Nigeria’s Information Society is making progress but we call on stakeholders to act faster. Our ‘20:2020’ vision depends on our ICT prowess!” on May 17 by:
- Lending us your Twitter or Facebook status message;
- Changing your email signature to reflect this message;
- Sending this article to 5 friends;
- Discussing the impact of ICTs in your life with friends and family;
- Volunteering for a non-profit ICT initiative before the next WISD anniversary.

Apr

16

Florence Seriki, MD/CEO of Omatek Computers (and W.TEC advisory board member) was recognised as one of the Legends of Technology at the recently-held Titans of Tech National ICT Merit Award. Read more about this award from the Vanguard Newspaper website.

Mar

8

In all the occupations she could have chose from; she chose the one that involves impacting in the lives of others. No gain attached but her joy will be to see women and girls being empowered and actualising a big dream. Women and girls exploring via the knowledge they have acquired, women and girls being financially independent.

This is her dream and she started…I am today a popular blogger because she chose to empower women through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). My blog is taking me places because she opened the door by sharing this skill. I am a recognized activist online because she did not hold back sharing with women and girls. My network has grown for good all because she sown a seed…

This is what many other girls and women have benefited from and many are still going to benefit from. She is dedicated to this cause and she is here to stay. She is one true shero. She is my unsung shero. She is Ore Somolu.

I will celebrate you today and for always!

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

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