Afro-Tech Girls in partnership with IHS Nigeria implemented a 2-week Design Thinking Summer Bootcamp for 100 secondary school girls in underserved public schools between the ages of 14-16 in 2 states of the federation, Lagos and Ogun State.
The Boot camp commenced in Lagos on the 23rd of August till the 3rd of September while the Ogun State Bootcamp started on the 30th of August till the 10th of September.
Afro-Tech Girls has a rich history of hosting these events. From the Lagos State Electricity Board excursion held in 2015 to the SheInnovates Project 30for30 Bootcamp in 2017, as it is committed to fulfilling its mission which is to increase the participation of young girls in STEM. “We bring the STEM experience to young girls one event at a time,” Afro-Tech Girls stated.
IHS is a large telecommunications infrastructure provider in Africa, passionate about Youth Development and has a great track record of partnering with organizations to invest in the future of the nation.
In a statement by Afro-Tech Girls, the two-week curriculum was designed by Open Networks with the aim of empowering the young girls to see themselves as assets to their immediate environments as solution creators.
“In addition, it was to assist them in making informed decisions when choosing career paths and to encourage them to consider STEM fields while doing so.
“During the two weeks of Bootcamp, the participants were required to provide solutions to societal problems by creating designs that can tackle them.
” In addition, the girls were trained in creative thinking, problem solving, prototype building, public speaking, presenting with confidence, proper use of body language, teamwork, empathy, mindfulness and more,” the organisation stated.
The participants were divided into five teams and each team chose to build prototypes that’ll provide relief to the problems ravaging the country such gender discrimination, sexual abuse, unemployment, child abuse, and waste management amongst otyers.
They ranged from products like solar powered reading lamps made specifically for the overlooked girl child, waste grinding machines to combat environmental waste problems, customized pepper sprays as part of the solution to rape, to alarms that is linked to the community and proposed agencies specialized in fighting abuse.
They left no stone unturned as they also identified ways to market and publicize their solutions via traditional and new media channels.
On the final day of the Bootcamp, they pitched these solutions to their audience which included representatives of IHS Nigeria, Afro-Tech Girls, Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary and Secondary School Education and Principal-Generals of the state were in attendance.
Both the Lagos and Ogun events were successful and Afro-Tech Girls expressed its appreciation to Open Networks, Ogun State Ministry of Education, Lagos State Education District IV and every individual or organization that supported us and IHS Nigeria for partnering with us.
