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As part of activities commemorating International Women’s Month, the UN Women Nigeria Country Office in March 2023, in conjunction with the UN Resident Coordinator’s office, hosted a showcase event to promote the initiatives of young women and men in Nigeria using technology and digital innovation to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment and inclusion, which was in line with the International Women’s Day theme for 2023 “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.”
Nigeria’s youth population is growing exponentially with over 50% of its over 200 million population classified as youth with an estimated median age of 18 years. Similarly, Nigeria’s technology, information and communications sector is becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the country.
In her opening speech, Ms Beatrice Eyong, the United Nations Country Representative for Women, stated that the theme is a reminder of the role of technology and innovation in empowering women and girls and achieving gender equality. She pointed out that the event also showed how digital innovations by young men and women in Nigeria can solve a variety of problems in different sectors of society: health, social, financial and medical, access to markets and environmentally conscious products and energy solutions; and how these technologies can be used to benefit women and increase gender equality. However, she denounced the persistent gap regarding representation in labor and education in Nigeria’s technology sector.
The showcase event saw 22 young women and men (70% women and 30% men) aged 18-35 using technology innovations and tools to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment and inclusion. These initiatives ranged from mobile applications that provide support resources to training female programmers and developers, reporting sexual and gender-based violence, to providing educational and personal development resources. There were also innovations for breast cancer detection, smart crop spraying, digital learning, audio translators, payment simplifiers, medical counseling, menstrual products, energy conservation, employment, e-commerce, agricultural solutions, sexual health education, talent amplification and one that promotes a safer taxi experience for women and girls.
The event also featured special remarks from United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Matthias Schmale, who called for action on digital literacy among women and girls, promoting women’s leadership in science and technology, and a end the pervasive issue of violence against women. and girls in the digital space. Further he urged the Nigerian government to do more by investing more in science and technology.
Dignitaries and key partners, including the ambassadors of Japan, Norway, France, Finland and Mexico, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development, etc. , praised UN Women for taking the initiative to put together the showcase and stressed that the Nigerian government should prioritize gender equality in the tech space. They pledged their continued support to UN Women in her work to secure a more inclusive tech space for women and girls, while encouraging young entrepreneurs to believe in themselves, collaborate, think creatively and never accept failure , but keep pushing to make an impact.
The UN Women-Buy-From-Women Initiative, a cloud-based enterprise and e-commerce platform connecting women farmers and entrepreneurs to markets, information and finance, was also presented at the event to equip economic empowerment programs and empower women empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners in various industries worldwide. Engineer Bamke Onaok, the first Nigerian female mining engineer, and Ms. Ibiymi Peace, an experienced miner, attended the event to lecture to the young female tech entrepreneurs and encourage them with their own stories of excellence to courageously face the challenges of life, which are no different for men and women, and break through the ceilings to succeed.
Certificates of participation were presented to all young innovators by the UN Women’s Representative, Ms. Beatrice Enyong, and other dignitaries. Mr. Lassana Wonneh, Deputy UN Women’s Representative, concluded by expressing delight that despite the current gender gap in the tech space, women are rapidly catching up as they continue to occupy some of the most prominent positions in the tech space.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women – Africa.
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