On March 23, 10 youth winners were awarded in a competition dubbed Innovate for Her Education.

In partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Culture (MYCULTURE), Imbuto Foundation, UNICEF Rwanda, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda is implementing "Operationalization of 10 Youth Friendly Centers & Youth Empowerment," a pilot project under the Generation Unlimited Rwanda initiative, which aims to ensure all young people between the age of 10-24 are in school, training or employed by 2030.

The Innovate for Her Education Hackathon Award is aimed to recognize social innovators who are contributing positively to the education and skills development for girls in Rwanda.

Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda supports young women and men in overcoming the digital divide and thriving in an inclusive digital economy; through building their self-confidence and equipping them with digital and 21st-century skills. DOT Rwanda programs place young women (70%) and men at the center of inclusive community development and support them with the digital and human skills, knowledge, and networks they need to create opportunities and transform their own communities.

The innovations by the ten winners focus on encouraging girls to go back to school, enrolment in STEM, digitally skilling young girls, or mitigating threats to the education of the girl child.

Violette Uwamutara, DOT Regional Advisor, Africa and DOT Rwanda Country Director, said that young people, particularly women, are some of the hardest hit by the adverse consequences of Covid-19.

In addition, she mentioned that the pandemic exacerbated barriers and gaps in girls’ education, for instance, learning was interrupted, increased mental health challenges and psychological distress as a result of many overlapping stressors; the number of teen pregnancies increased among other issues. The pandemic accelerated technology uptake as a critical tool to learn, adapt, pivot, connect and thrive. However, many are still unable to access, connect and leverage technology - a gender digital divide persists.

"Our goal today is to raise awareness around issues surrounding the girl child’s education and skills development; the challenges, innovations, what works, the best practices that can be replicated to ensure an inclusive and equitable access to education for all,” she said adding that; the funding award will support the innovators in the ideation and prototype phase.”

During the awarding, the panel discussion engaged Ms. Marie Therese Uwayezu, UNICEF Rwanda Education Officer in charge of Gender, Ms. RITA Mutabazi, the Principal of Tumba College of Technology, Mr. Kevin Mbogo, Dean of Students at Davis College Rwanda and Ms. Patience Iribagiza, the Executive Director of Afro ark-Urubohero Hub on topics revolving around the education of girls and their skills development.  The panelists raised awareness of the needs and gaps, showed best practices and measures put in place to increase girl’s enrollment in STEM.

Specifically, according to panelists, through 'remedial learning', struggling students, particularly girls at risk of dropping out or those who are less likely to achieve quality learning are supported in order to boost their learning. Parents' understanding of the importance of girls’ education has increased over time. However, there is still a difference in performance for girls and boys, which calls for special support for girls to encourage them to stay and excel in school, and more importantly choose the STEM subjects.

The panel recognized the efforts and innovations led by partners in response to Covid-19 pandemic effects; technology brought in solutions that allowed the education system to survive, and how virtual learning became the way to go for all education programs. However, as discussed by the panel; gender digital divide, access to gadgets and affordability for connectivity remain challenges especially for girls’ education. The panel recommended and called upon partners to support girls’ education in Rwanda.

Ange Aimee Kaze, a member of the Best Performer Girl - Inkubito z'Icyeza alumni network, talked about the role of mentorship among the girls.

 "Through Imbuto Foundation’s mentorship program, girls are empowered on how to become confident, role models for their peers, and how to succeed in their careers,” she said, adding that girls also receive training on peer mentorship so that they can also become mentors.

Charles Avelino, the Chief Education, UNICEF Rwanda urged the winners to work hard and implement the ideas that they pitched.

"Usually, for ideas to grow, your required sources and the knowledge have to be translated into something that can be used and that requires money. We are ready to support the ideas of youth so that they won’t die in vain. We believe that one day, these young innovators will return to share the impact they created in girls’ education” he said

In addition, he said that Covid-19 was a challenge but also an opportunity to leverage tech to advance education.

Commenting on behalf of winners Patience Iribagiza, the Executive Director of Afro ark-Urubohero Hub said that the competition was educational in various ways.

"It has been a long journey, but a great one where we gained different skills and knowledge, including digital profiling, peer-to-peer support, partnership, gender and social innovation training where we learned to think about our initiatives, impact and reach from a gender equality perspective;” she said

Iribagiza further said that the funds are going to be supporting already existing activities that they have been doing and also, to scale up their impact. "So, I believe in the next few years we're going to be coming back to share the impact that we've made,” she added