Dec

27

We are pleased to announce that all information regarding the 2010 HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition—including detailed category explanations and guidelines, critical deadlines, application materials, etc.—is now available at www.dmlcompetition.net.

The theme of this year’s Competition is Reimagining Learning and there are two types of awards: 21st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers.

Aligned with National Lab Day as part of the (U.S.’) White House’s Educate to Innovate Initiative, the 21st Century Learning Lab Designer awards will range from $30,000-$200,000. Awards will be made for learning environments and digital media-based experiences that allow young people to grapple with social challenges through activities based on the social nature, contexts, and ideas of science, technology, engineering and math.

The Game Changers category—undertaken in cooperation with Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) and Electronic Arts (EA), Entertainment Software Assocation, and the Information Technology Industry Council—will award amounts ranging from $5,000-$50,000 for creative levels designed with either LittleBigPlanet™ or Spore™ Galactic Adventures that offer young people engaging game play experiences and that incorporate and leverage principles of science, technology, engineering and math for learning.

Each category will include several Best in Class awards selected by expert judges, as well as a People’s Choice Award selected by the general public. The online application system will open on January 7 and will include three rounds of submissions, with public comment at each stage.

Please see www.dmlcompetition.net for all details.

www.hastac.org
www.dmlcompetition.net
www.twitter.com/dmlComp

Dec

21

By Oreoluwa
Girls at the W.TEC Girls Technology Camp
This year has certainly been an eventful one for W.TEC. Funding has been difficult to come by in this economically-challenging time, but it has forced us to think seriously about alternative income generation strategies. While this has been a tough experience, it is perhaps a very good thing that this is happening in our infancy stage, so that we can develop a more entrepreneurial approach to our work and grow with this.

2010 will see W.TEC offering more fee-based services as a means of sustaining our girls and women empowerment programs. We also plan to publish more in this coming year, so look out for more research activity from us.

Amidst the challenges, the things that keep us focused and motivated in our work include seeing the effects that our programmes have on the girls and women we work with.

Last week, one of our girls from this year’s Girls Technology Camp called to let us know that she had gained a lot of new computer skills and knowledge from the camp and this showed when she returned to school in September.

Her school started offering computer classes and thanks to the W.TEC’s Girls Technology Camp, she was already familiar with many of the basic concepts. In addition, she was able to contribute to the curriculum,.

It’s stories like this that help us know what type of impact our work is having. On that very upbeat juncture, we wish you a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous and exciting new year.

Dec

14

W.TEC in Print

December 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment

i4d Cover

W.TEC has recently been featured in 2 publications.

The first is i4d: Information for Development journal, an print and electronic magazine that seeks to provide a platform for exchange of information, ideas, opinions and experiences, both inside and outside the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) sector. We contributed an article about 2008′s Networking for Success project, which was aimed at teaching and demonstrating use of web 2.0 technologies by women predominantly in civil society to make their work in development more effective. You can download the journal and read our article. It starts on page 6.

digital_shift_coverThe second is A Digital Shift – Youth and ICT for Development Best Practices, a publication showcasing the ways that young people are improving the world through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This initiative was coordinated by the eLeaders Committee of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN-GAID) in collaboration with TakingITGlobal and Organisation Internationale de la francophonie. You can read more about the publication and download it from the TIG site or the UN website. We are on page 21.

Dec

11

As 2009 draws to a close, we are excited to share some of W.TEC’s accomplishments over the year with you. In our 2nd year of operation, we were able to build-upon the work started in 2008 to educate, empower and connect girls and women through active engagement with information and communication technology (ICT).

- 15 girls attended the 2nd Girls Technology Camp and learnt to use computers and gained a broader knowledge of technology-related career options

- 97 women learnt to use technology for learning, leadership, and developing their careers through W.TEC programmes and workshops organised with partner organisations

- We published the 1st W.TEC magazine, which featured our activities in 2008 and explored the impact on our alumni. The magazine was widely distributed to programme beneficiaries, civil society organisations, media, government bodies and other stakeholders.

- We published an article in i4d: Information for Development journal highlighting strategies for teaching technology effectively

- W.TEC Executive Director, Oreoluwa Somolu, was awarded the Anita Borg Change Agent Award for her efforts in supporting women in computing

- UN-GAID (Global Alliance for ICT and Development) & Taking IT Global recognized W.TEC as a Best Practice in its publication on community transformation through ICT

- Plan International, a global body working to alleviate child poverty, profiled W.TEC in its 2009 Because I Am a Girl report as an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of girls

- We educated 417 people about ways to empower women and girls using information technology via our mailing lists and online group

We were able to achieve all these thanks to your assistance. I hope that you will consider supporting W.TEC in the New Year. Your financial and in-kind donations enable the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre offer high-quality programming to Nigerian girls and women, as we build communities where women are able to use information technology successfully for learning, working and creating positive social change.

Whether you are able to give N5,000, N50,000 or N500,000, your gift is greatly appreciated and enables us to continue our work. All gifts will be recognized in our donor listings in our publications.

If you would like to discuss making a gift or donating in-kind goods or services to W.TEC, please contact us by emailing info@w-teconline.org.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Oreoluwa Somolu
Executive Director
Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC)

Dec

10

By Omokemi

Educating an individual amount to giving legacy to a generation. The need to increase literacy among the Nigerian woman cannot be over emphasised especially at a period when the literacy level in Nigeria is reducing. In order to increase literacy and economically empower the Nigerian woman, W.TEC offer a number of programmes for girls and women. Example of such programmes are W.TEC  ICT Programmes for Young and Older Women

W.TEC ICT Programmes for Young and Older Women

1.             These give women new skills and a stronger position in the labour market (in line with the provisions of Article 10 of CEDAW which talks about the woman’s right of access to education, information technology and skills).

2.             The ICT trainings provided a source of living to participants after the programmes which has helped to reduce the feminine face of poverty and has increased the women’s access to property, land and financial credit facilities such as bank loans, and mortgages.

3.             The programmes have reduced domestic violence. Some of the women are now gainfully employed and so are also contributing their own quota to the home front which has earned them some respect from their spouses.

In 2009, 97 women benefited from the programmes. The number however, represent a very small fraction of women reached out to in a country that is up to 150 million population. As the 16 days of advocacy against violence on women comes to an end today, mark the event with an action. Do something in your little way to liberate a disenfranchised woman.

Donate to W.TEC ICT programmes forYoung and older women. Your gift of N5,000 ($33.35), N50,000 ($333.35), N500,000 ($3333.35), is greatly appreciated and will enable us continue with her work.

Be sensitised on the right of a woman, say no to violence against women.

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.

Dec

9

By Oreoluwa

Grace Ushang Vigil & March - Dec 4, 2009

Grace Ushang Vigil & March - Dec 4, 2009

As we wrap-up this year’s 16 Days Campaign against gender violence, it’s important to identify steps to advance this cause.

Last Friday’s march to protest the rape and murder of youth corper Grace Ushang was an excellent step in raising awareness about not only this incident, but all the other thousands of assaults that take place daily and go unreported. Efforts like this also provide a space for women and advocates against gender violence to get together, support each other and propose progressive measures.

At the march and vigil, protestors made the following recommendations:
- To take measures to guarantee the safety and personal security of youth corps members and indeed all women and girls who remain vulnerable due to impunity amongst perpetrators in Nigeria;
- To pass the Bill on Violence Against Women presented to the House of Representatives since April 2002;
- To adopt and pass the Harmonised Bill on Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill 2008 presented to the Senate through its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters in July 2008;
- Appropriate funds to facilitate the establishment and equipping of units in all divisional posts of the Nigeria Police Force to enhance the investigation and prosecution of cases of violence against women, thereby enhancing accountability and access to justice for women who suffer abuses in private and public spaces;
- Commit a full scale investigation to bring the killers of Grace Ushang to justice.

The last is crucial, because after the initial outcry, the incidences fade from the public’s memory and justice is either intolerably slow in coming or permanently deferred. Last year’s attack of Uzoma Okere by a naval rating is a perfect case in point. Thankfully though, the court case is still in process, despite delay tactics from the defendants’ lawyers.

It’s important that each of us thinks about how we can help eliminate violence against women. For a start, supporting bills and other legal instruments that seek to provide additional protection to women is a good start. We can participate in events and gatherings like the vigil and march in honour of Grace Ushang and mobilize others to do the same, as our physical presence – especially in large numbers – shows solidarity and makes a greater impact than we imagine. We can individually challenge thinking and cultural mores that permit violence against women through discussion and action.

It’s not always easy, especially within cultural contexts that view these issues of violence benignly or even actively encourage them. We might not all think ourselves capable of ‘putting ourselves out there’ but perhaps you could find small but important actions to take. The struggle to eliminate gender violence requires all our efforts and should not be left to those considered the ‘heavyweights’ of women’s rights. This is a continuous struggle and should not be consigned merely to these 16 days of each year.

Dec

8

By Omokemi

Violence against women is any violence that targets a woman because she belongs to the women’s fold.  Violence against women includes ill treatment of female househelps. A family hired the service of a 15 year old girl as househelp. Madam travels often and so few weeks after the househelp came to the house, Oga succeeded in engaging her in a sexual affair. Oga’s 17 year old son caught his father in one of the acts and threaten to tell his mother unless the househelp allows him also to have rounds with her. Both father and son continue in sexual affair with the housemaid until the girl became  pregnant and both men denied being responsible.

How do you treat that little girl in your care? Remember she is a potential mother like your female children. Do you wish her a  bright future like your children? Remember what goes around comes around. It is what you do to children in your care that outsiders will do to your children. Be sensitised on the right of a woman. Say no to violence against women.

Dec

7

Systers is the world’s largest email community of technical women in computing. This initiatives of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology promotes the interests of women in the computing and technology fields.

One of the ways they do this is through the Systers Pass-It-On Awards program, which honors Anita Borg’s desire to create a network of technical women helping one another.

W.TEC is a past recipient of this award. Visit the ABI site to see the recent awardees.

Dec

7

By Oreoluwa

The 16 Days of Activism are almost over, but we would be remiss in our daily writings if we didn’t talk about the organisation behind this now global campaign.

The 16 Days campaign was launched in 1991 by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.A. CWGL chose to bookend the campaign with November 25 (International Day Against Violence Against Women) and December 10 (International Human Rights Day) to make the case that violence against women is a human rights violation.

Since then over 2,000 women’s organizations in 156 countries have participated in the global campaign, with tens of thousands of people around the world raising awareness of the many forms of violence faced by women from all walks of life, of every economic status, and in every community throughout the world.

The 2009 campaign (this year’s theme is “Commit ▪ Act ▪ Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!”) includes the following initiatives planned around the world:
- Series of programs including a seminar on masculinity and hip hop with a critical analysis of mainstream music and its intersections with racism, sexism, and gender-based violence (Canada)
- Self-defense training workshops in schools to teach youth how to protect and respect themselves and those around them (Belize)
- Online conference to discuss femicide, violence against women, and the implications of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (Georgia)
- Group of men traveling to a number of rural locations where they will do performances related to topics of violence against women and how men can be positive role models in the world to end gender-based violence (Kenya)
– Hosting daily events throughout the campaign, including symposiums on the intersections of gender violence with internal displacement, public health, media portrayal and reporting, mental health, and sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as hosting creative programs such as how to incorporate theater and poetry into sensitization work (South India)

Visit the CWGL website for more information and join the campaign on Facebook.

keep looking »

Blogroll

WP Themes