Basseterre, St. Kitts, (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis’ CARICOM Youth Ambassadors (CYA) joined other Member States in the Region to celebrate International Girls in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Day 2016, on Thursday 28 April.
The day, which is held on the fourth Thursday in April each year, was observed under the theme ‘Tech girls, for a tech world. Girls and women in ICT; beneficial for every country!’
Dennis McCall Jr., Dean of the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Corps, and a St. Kitts and Nevis CYA, briefly explained the importance of ICT Day.
This day is celebrated because we realise that majority of the careers and jobs in ICT is held by males so there are not a lot of women in ICT,” said McCall Jr. “So what this day is basically about is to empower and encourage girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of ICT.”
Across the CARICOM Region the CYAs engaged in a number of initiatives to advocate for girls in ICT. Here in St. Kitts and Nevis, the CYAs embarked on three initiatives.
This morning (April 28), we had a presentation with the girls at the Charles E. Mills Secondary School about what the ICT Day is all about and all of the different jobs that they can find in ICT,” he said, while adding that it was heartening to discover that a number of the young ladies showed great interests in wanting to acquire a job in ICT.
The local CYAs also started a social media campaign that will run for two days from Thursday, 28 to Friday 29, April. The campaign is done in the form of a poster that allows young ladies to bring out their photography skills. McCall Jr. noted that both men and women would be involved in this initiative because it is imperative for men to help advocate for women in ICT.
Later today, the local CYAs will do a presentation with members of the St. Kitts National Youth Parliament Association on the importance of girls in ICT, similar to that of others carried out in other member states.
For example, I know in Guyana there is going to be a workshop for girls in ICT that is focused on a lot of young people,” said the Dean, while noting that Belize would have similar sessions to encourage girls to get interested in the technological scope of things.
According to information from http://www.itu.int/, International Girls in ICT Day was first celebrated five years ago and is an initiative from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It aims to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in ICTs.
