Empowering girls through robotics and coding in Rwanda

From 27 March – 05 April 2024, 75 girls from Rwanda embarked on a two-week intensive and practical coding, robotics, and innovation bootcamp. Held at the GIZ Digital Transformation Center, the girls were selected from each district across the entire country, recognized by the Ministry of Education as some of the highest achievers in secondary education.

Throughout the two-week bootcamp, which was organized by UN Women Rwanda in partnership with the Ministries of Education, Gender and Family Promotion, ICT and Innovation, together with other partners including GIZ and STELA, the girls were taken through an interactive, innovative and robust curriculum, covering a wide array of subject areas including SPIKE PRIME Robotics, Programming, Virtual Reality, Mobile Application Development, and Gender Equality concepts. Through these sessions, the girls were equipped with digital literacy, coding, and creative problem-solving skills which would enhance their career opportunities, inspire entrepreneurship, and spur their knowledge on how to create innovative solutions around societal challenges.

“The experience I have had over the past two weeks has been unbelievable. I couldn’t believe that I was able to use my very own hands to build a robot from scratch that can follow my commands. My vision is to now fully take part in Robotics and ICT moving forward.” exclaimed Uwase Carine, one of the participating girls.

Through partnership with Siemens, all 75 girls were awarded laptops and dedicated internet connection to spur their education and development. They will also be part of the Siemens EmpowHer mentorship programme which will give them direct access to prominent actors across the globe in ICT and STEM fields.

To further motivate the girls during the two-week bootcamp, prominent leaders in STEM also visited them for inspirational talks including the Minister of Education in Rwanda, Mr. Gaspard Twagirayezu, Mr. Thorsten Schafer Gumbel, Chair of the GIZ Management Board, Ms. Serita Sanders, a retired Nuclear Engineer at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Edyne Umuhoza, a young Rwandan pilot with the national carrier RwandAir.

Hon. Twagirayezu Gaspard, the Minister of Education, shared his personal experiences with the participants as an engineer, following which the participants presented their robotics and innovation projects. In an interactive discussion, the young girls were able to ask the Minister of Education questions on career guidance, fears, challenges, and tips to become top scientists. The speakers emphasized some key principles such as discipline, confidence and integrity.

The second AGCCI coding bootcamp culminated in an elaborate closing ceremony attended by diverse stakeholders from government, development agencies, academia and media. To showcase the tangible results of the training, a select few of the trainees presented their innovation projects which seek to find solutions to critical societal challenges such as climate change and medical efficiency, following which they also gave captivating robotics demonstrations.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the UN Women representative, Ms. Jennet Kem appreciated Rwanda’s efforts to bridge the gender digital gap through the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) commitments declared by H.E Paul Kagame in Paris. She also commended the different programmes put in place to attract girls to embrace ICT and STEM at both an educational and professional level stating, “the commitment of the Government of Rwanda to spearhead the AGCCI initiative and similar programmes is a testimony to the interest and commitment of the government to ensure inclusive education for all.”

Speaking to the girls, Ms. Kem emphasized that, “the gender and STEM agenda is timely and an urgent priority precisely because digitalization offers vast potential for women and girls to end poverty, to improve education and health, enhance agricultural productivity, and create decent jobs. More so, girls’ involvement and leadership in driving the tech sector is a central accelerator of social and economic development in Africa.”

UN Women together with government partners launched the second phase of the African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) in Rwanda as part of the International Women’s Month commemoration. This aligned with the year’s theme “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”, and is aimed at empowering young girls across Africa to become computer programmers, creators and designers, putting them on the right track to undertake studies and pursue careers in ICT and STEM sectors.

The bootcamp concluded with a resounding commitment from all stakeholders to scale the initiative up to reach even more girls and remain an integral part of the Government of Rwanda’s concerted efforts to bridge the gender digital gap.