COUNTRY FOCUS: MOROCCO
The information
technology sector
in Morocco has been
witnessing significant
expansion and was the first
country in North Africa to
install a 3G network. We look
at how the Africa Coding Week
event was celebrated in the
country, while we look at how
global engineering group SEGULA
Technologies is enhancing its
operations there.
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Africa Code Week focuses
on girl empowerment and
digital inclusion
A
frica Code Week (ACW) returned for
its fifth year with an ambitious goal
of introducing 1.5 million young
Africans to digital and coding skills and a
strong focus on girl empowerment.
SAP, UNESCO, Irish Aid, the German Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ) and partners gathered
in Rabat to declare the 2019 edition open
across 37 countries from the National Training
Centre (CFRN) of the Moroccan Ministry
of National Education, Vocational Training,
Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Mobilising female teachers around
World Teachers’ Day
The 2019 ACW kicked off with a workshop
aimed at mobilising female teachers to
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INTELLIGENTCIO
increase girls’ access to digital education.
Held at the CFRN in partnership with
UNESCO as part of its global World
Teachers’ Day activities, the workshop
brought together 27 highly influential
female teachers with an extensive academic
and non-academic track record of instilling
STEM skills in students aged eight to 16.
The workshop follows in the wake of a series
of Train-the-Trainer sessions that were held
in participating countries since August
and equipped local teachers and volunteer
trainers with the teaching tools they need to
impart digital skills to students during ACW
2019 in October.
Frederic Alran, SAP Managing Director North
& West Africa, said there is great urgency
in advancing women’s equal economic
participation in the global digital economy.
“At a global level, women hold only 24% of
all jobs in the ICT industry, and 250 million
fewer women than men are online, denying
them access to information, education and
active participation in the economy,” he said.
“With the support of our public and private
sector partners, volunteers, teachers and
ambassadors, we aim to close the digital
gender gap and help ensure everyone can
play a role in shaping Africa’s future in the
Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The group of 28 female teachers attending
the workshop in Rabat came from 15 African
countries. Over the course of the four days,
they attended immersive training sessions
on computational and design thinking.
After getting to grips with the technologies
sitting at the heart of the Fourth Industrial
www.intelligentcio.com