The past couple of years have seen an intentional move by women in technology to bridge the gender digital gap, which can further be extrapolated as a shift from hyped evangelism to skills training.
FemiDev, one of the many entities that seek to bridge the gender digital gap, is one of the initiatives that want to meet that goal,
It was launched in June 2020 and aims at achieving the gender equality goal through LakeHub academy.
The program provides incentives, fully funded scholarships to young women and girls. The beneficiaries are equipped with key skills in front and back-end web development, design thinking, entrepreneurship, graphic design, and people’s skills.
They use these skills to innovative solutions addressing community challenges. This program has so far sponsored 200 girls between the ages 18-35yrs and has achieved 80% relevant job placement and paid internships both in the public and private sectors.
Throughout the years, Lakehub has aspired to make technological and entrepreneurship opportunities available to the youths of western Kenya.
The global pandemic continuously exposes and widens the gaps existing in our education structures and workforce system making it even more critical to widen the scope in reaching out to more girls in the marginalized informal settlements.
In line with achieving SDG goals 4 -Quality Education, SDG 5 – Gender Equality and SDG 9- Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, the FemiDevs is intentionally and strategically curated to nurture, mentor and offer both technical and social platforms and networks that will eventually form fit-for for future creators and innovators for next-generation employment and entrepreneurship.
In 2021, through funding from the French Embassy, they offered 110 girls in Turkana and Kisumu counties fully paid scholarships to introduce them to digital literacy, web and software development, and Mobile APP development.
This year, LakeHub has partnered with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to train 300 girls from Kisumu, Busia, and Migori counties on digital literacy and equip them with technical skills for employment.
Funded by the Russian government, this partnership is in alignment with UNDP’s digital strategy which addresses equality, digital transformation, innovation, and social protection.
“I can now confidently say that I am a full-stack web developer with industry experience in building websites and web applications. I do specialize in JavaScript’s MERN stack. There are lots of ways women can contribute in the tech space including implementation support, project management, and product design. They can start from here and progressively advance their technical skills, but one must at least take the first step,” says Lilian Mathu, FemiDev alumni.
This 12-month training takes a participatory approach and trainees are provided with laptops and internet access in order to attend in-person training across the three counties.
There has been a significant increase of 60% in the number of girls and young women joining the FemiDevs program, from an initial number of 250 girls to 410 in this quarter.
Through an online application, the program recruits highly motivated, self-driven young women between the ages of 18-35 from underserved communities.
A call for applications is set every quarter through social media platforms.
FemiDevs is currently recruiting 200 girls from Busia and Migori for the Web Development Training. Here’s the application link: bit.ly/LA-application
