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Girls Code Club:
MindAfrica Helps Nigerian Girls Unlock the Power of Code
MindAfrica Leadership Initiative is bringing hands-on coding learning opportunities to secondary school girls across Rivers State and other parts of Nigeria in order for girls to gain in-demand job skills to succeed in career and life. Coding is perceived as the new literacy and an essential 21st century skill set that every young girl should have.
This was reiterated by the Executive Director of MindAfrica, Ms Olere Iluebbey, during the recent graduation ceremony of the inaugural Girls Code Club organized by MindAfrica in Port Harcourt. Girls Code Club is an afterschool program that introduces secondary school girls to coding with the aim of raising their interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and empowering them to access career opportunities in Computer Science and related fields. MindAfrica aims to provide tools, resources and mentorship opportunities to underserved girls between the ages of 10-18 years through Girls Code Clubs.
The graduation ceremony was to celebrate the achievement of 22 female students of Holy Rosary College, Port Harcourt where the inaugural Girls Code Club was launched in April, 2018. The ceremony which held on the 13th of December, 2018 was attended by members of the Catholic Education Board, parents, guardians, guests, students and staff of Holy Rosary College.
A presentation by the Project Team Lead, Ekima Osifo, featured the various components of the training program which included a series of workshops in coding, robotics and life skills. Consequently, the girls have learned to code using visual and web programming languages such as Turtle Blocks JS, Scratch, HTML and CSS. At the end of the training, students were able to build their own websites. She further stated that in the course of learning to code, the girls have developed computational thinking, collaboration and communication skills. They have demonstrated confidence in using technology and can now train other students in the school.
One of the highlights of the event was the unveiling of websites by 5 graduating students. Their websites featured digital solutions in Agro-business, Fashion, Food & Beverage, Health and Lifestyle that are relevant to their community.
In her vote of thanks, the Principal, represented by the Vice Principal, Mrs Ruth Osazuwa, lauded the efforts of MindAfrica in bringing this novel initiative to the school. She also applauded the 22 students for the successful completion of the program and their accomplishments and she encouraged more students to take advantage of this opportunity in the school. She stated that the school is committed to providing quality education for the students and will ensure Girls Code Club continues to run in the school.
About Girls Code Club
Girls Code Club is a free afterschool initiative by MindAfrica that aims to equip young girls with coding skills to get them interested in a future career in technology. It is targeted at girls within the ages of 10-17 in public (and semi-public) secondary schools who are educationally underserved or economically disadvantaged. Girls Code Club was officially launched during the 2018 Girls in ICT Day held on the 26th of April, at Holy Rosary College in Port Harcourt where preliminary workshops have commenced.MindAfrica does not charge any fee for the girls' participation in the program and is leveraging on partnerships with schools, volunteers, technology experts and corporate sponsors to achieve our goals.
GCC workshops comprise activities with a blend of life skills and coding skills where girls will learn to work in teams, solve complex problems, create apps, build websites, robotics and more.
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