ICTs

Information and Technologies Tag a Life Pauline Hurungudo TaLI Officer ECIS Parliamentary Meeting

ICTs have become the force for development and as an organisation that seeks to push for the inclusion of girls and young women in all opportunities, it is imperative that we advance their rights to ICTs and New Media. The Gender Gap in the most paying industries in the world has remained high with women and girls being left out. Through our Leadership Economic Mentorship Hubs (LEMHs), young women and girls including victims of Child Marriages, Sexual Violence, Physical Violence and Sex Work largely from low income and vulnerable communities are taught Basic Computer Literacy to be able to find jobs, they are taught
about Coding, New Media, Blogging and utilising information technologies such as computers, mobile phones and apps to mine local, national and global opportunities to their own advancement. The young women are also taught about the emerging forms of violence around digital media where young women have also become targets of such crimes as revenge pornography. This allows young women to participate in all areas of economic and leadership opportunities in their lives. As a wholesome leadership programme where they learn about all other rights and leadership issues, the LEMHs programme provides the young people support beyond their ICTs training including unlimited access to internet and computers for their own projects at our TaLI Provincial hubs such as in Harare.

The world has since started to acknowledge the role of STEM (Science, Technologies and Mathematics) and that girls and young women should be encouraged to take up such subjects in school that promote their access to such opportunities. ICTs have become the biggest career opportunity generators will the highest paid jobs and business opportunities. Zimbabwe’s top millionaire is Strive Masiiwa who together with his wife Tsitsi run the most successful privately owned Econet Wireless (which also supports TaLI work) which has become Zimbabwe’s top employer. Yet girls and young women have emerged not only as lesser participants in ICTs, but also have suffered vulnerabilities such as revenge pornography. TaLI is advancing their rights to opportunities, information and to share their own stories through blogging. More opportunities continue being created to ensure girls have access to ICTs.