Deputy President H.E William Ruto Flags off Digital Literacy Kits and Trainers

The world is increasingly going digital and with 50% of the world’s current jobs requiring digital literacy, it’s impossible to ignore this trend. In the next 10 years, this number is set to grow to 77%. That means anyone that doesn’t have the skills required to work in a digital market will face an uphill task when it comes to making a living.

This reality is even worse for women in Africa as the statistics show that only 1 in 19 women on the continent has access to the internet. The Women and the Web Report established that there are nearly 25% fewer women than men online in developing countries. This represents 200 million fewer women than men online in developing countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the size of the gap is 43%, the largest across all the regions in the study.

Intel launched the She Will Connect programme in 2015 to bridge this gap. As part of this effort, Intel has announced a collaboration with Joyful Women Organization (JoyWo), a Non-Governmental Organization that seeks to empower women economically and socially, to train over 1M Kenyan women in digital literacy by 2020. Intel has trained JoyWo trainers on the She Will Connect digital literacy curriculum and equipped them with technology devices to enable them carry out face to face training with women and girls across the country.

JoyWo’s track record is impressive, with a presence in 45 counties, a little over 170,000 women members and managing to raise 1.5M USD that has seen women who had a mothly income of 20 USD, have access to 200,000 USD a month.  JoyWo works with women groups in rural and informal urban areas in Kenya to teach them life skills with a view of enabling them achieve financial independence. The women already benefitting from JoyWo and Intel’s partnership fondly refer to the digital literacy programme as, ‘Panguza’ which means ‘to swipe’ in reference to the tablets being used in the training.

Present at the launch of the partnership was Mrs. Rachel Ruto, the patron of JoyWo, as well as Kenya’s Deputy President, H.E. William Ruto, who reiteriated the importance of ICT to the economy and the need for especially women to have the skills necessary to gain from it.

Announcing the collaboration, Intel Corporation’s General Manager for East Africa Mr. Danie Steyn said Intel aims to empower women to leverage the internet and technology to pursue their goals. The Intel She Will Connect Brand Ambassador, Adelle Onyango, was also present and shared the progress the programme has been able to achieve. Over 800,000 women and girls have so far been reached by the Intel She Will Connect program in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. The collaboration with JoyWo will see the training rolled out in 47 counties with members of JoyWo benefiting directly from the program.

mwendeNewsTechdigital literacy,Intel,Kenya,She Will Connect
The world is increasingly going digital and with 50% of the world's current jobs requiring digital literacy, it's impossible to ignore this trend. In the next 10 years, this number is set to grow to 77%. That means anyone that doesn't have the skills required to work in a...