Digital Skills for Rural Girls Project

In the past months of January and February 2022, YIT has been embarking on a journey of empowering young girls and young women through digital skills. As the world has become a global village, we came to the realization that it is vital that marginalized communities and those at grassroot levels be empowered through technology.

Our main vision behind the drive of Digital Skills for Rural girls is to enhance the online presence of rural girls and the development of their communities and their lives as individuals. We noticed that rural girls are usually not included in some life changing initiatives such as these due to issues such as proximity. They tend to be marginalized and some are not given the opportunity to be part of developmental issues hence we went to Mat South and Mat North because we acknowledge that young women are at the center of development and it is of great importance that they are equipped with digital skills knowledge in this era as it will make their lives simpler in tackling their day-to-day activities through coming up with smart ideas.

The digital skills for rural girls is of great importance to us as an organization because through it, we fulfill our mission which is to engender consciousness against discrimination on basis of age and gender through innovative solutions that livelihoods for active global citizenship. They will get to be included in life changing initiatives that will assist them in their education and also to be all hands-on deck and be included in the tech era.

The aim was also to impart knowledge to young rural girls which they had to share with others this will not only develop them as individuals but will also develop their communities as a whole and will also empower them in coming up with innovative solutions to problems faced by the youths.

Through this initiative, we engaged with young girls from Insiza, Beitbridge, Mangwe, Gwanda, Matopo, Umzingwane, Bulilima from Mat South and Binga, Umguza, Lupane, Nkayi, Tsholotsho, Hwange from Mat North. They were taught on Ideation and Coding and they got to develop four applications which after they had group discussions, they identified problems which they faced in their districts and through these applications, they would get to assist their communities.

The applications they developed are Crino-Preg which addresses the issue of teenage pregnancy, Lusumpuko which focuses on women empowerment and leadership, Kwenzakalani which focuses on information dissemination and Izenzo which focuses on justice for children. This is a win for YIT as through this project, we have developed innovative young thinkers who seek to bring about social change through technological ways.

After the bootcamps, the young girls got to be in hubs where they taught others about what they learnt and they also enrolled five people each to Technovation where they get to learn more about technology in the tech era.

So as to celebrate, showcase and exhibit the work that was done by the girls who partook in Digital Skills for Rural Girls, we are hosting a Hubs Expo that will also help the government, CSOs, private entities and individuals to acknowledge the importance of empowering young girls and women from the grassroots. We call upon the Ministry of ICTs and the Ministry of Information to pay special attention to the plight of rural girls when it comes to digital skills, realizing the importance of investing in digital skills and also having more boosters so as to aid easy access to internet and fast transmitting of information.