The virtuous ripple effect of education for girls is so far-reaching that former UN Secretary General and Nobel Prize winner Kofi Annan once called it “the single most effective tool for development.”

Our mission: support young women like never before by boosting relevant education and employment opportunities in the digital century.  UNESCO YouthMobile and BMZ (as part of the #eskills4girls initiative) have been supporting Africa Code Week activities since day one with grants awarded to 70 organizations to date, introducing thousands of girls to coding skills in emerging and developing countries.

According to Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, “Africa Code Week is a powerful tool for levelling the playing field and bringing more women and girls into the digital economy."

With 47% of female participation in 2019, the initiative continues to make the issue of girl empowerment through technology a priority. And what better way to achieve this than equipping and strengthening girls' very role models? Capacity building, again, is the key.

In addition to facilitating teacher trainings that focus on gender-sensitive curriculum development, ACW also organized the very first ACW Women Empowerment Workshop in partnership with UNESCO, Irish Aid and Morocco's Ministry of Education. In October 2019, 28 female teachers from 15 African countries got together in Rabat to share best practices for girl mentoring, teacher training and access to digital education.