Yas empowers girls through digital skills
DODOMA: YAS Tanzania has equipped young women with digital skills through the African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) as efforts to drive technology inclusion and empowerment for girls.
The two-week intensive training marks the fourth national AGCCI camp and reflects the growing momentum to empower girls in the digital age.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Prof Daniel Mushi, said the government is taking deliberate steps to ensure women and girls actively participate in the country’s scientific and technological advancement.
“Bridging the digital divide is crucial for women’s economic empowerment and national development,” he said over the weekend.
At the training camp, 50 young women from across Tanzania completed the AGCCI ‘Binti Dijitali’ programme, advancing the country’s mission to bridge the digital gender divide.
This milestone was achieved with support from Belgium and collaboration between UN Women, Tanzania and Yas Tanzania a digital lifestyle telecom brand focused on expanding tech opportunities.
Globally, women and girls are 25 per cent less likely to have adequate digital skills and in Tanzania, only one in ten women report basic digital proficiency (ITU, 2020).
UN Women Tanzania’s Women Economic Empowerment Specialist, Lilian Mwamdanga, said that investing in girls’ science and technology education and transforming perceptions, alongside supportive laws and policies, is critical for gender equality in the digital age.
Yas Dodoma Territory Manager Mr Frank Anthony said they are proud to see these young women complete the Binti Dijitali training, proving that skills in design, marketing and data privacy empower them as agents of transformation.
To date, AGCCI has empowered over 200 young women in Tanzania with digital literacy and coding skills and has supported more than 1,000 women in leveraging digital platforms to manage supply chains, access markets and grow businesses, further advancing digital inclusion.
