The Rwandan Ministry of Education together with UN Women on July 19 launched the African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) that aims to empower girls across the African continent by equipping them with digital literacy and computer skills.

Speaking at the launch, Minister of Education, Valentine Uwamariya, said achieving gender equality in education remains a top priority for Rwanda.

"One of the biggest commitments of the Ministry of Education is to bridge the gender gap in STEM subjects, to reach 50/50 by 2026,” she added.

Uwamariya also acknowledged that although there has been strong progress, several challenges related to gender inequality persist in the education sector, including the low representation of girls in STEM education at the secondary school level, which currently stands at 47.7 per cent.

Speaking at the launch, UN Women Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr Maxime Houinato, thanked the Government of Rwanda for its strong leadership on gender equality in the science and technology sector, not just in the country but at the regional level, and further encouraged girls to use the skills they acquire through AGCCI to tackle societal problems.

"By involving women and girls in ICT and coding, we unlock their power to create user-friendly technology that addresses the specific needs of women and girls,” said Houinato, emphasising that bridging the digital gender divide is not just an imperative for gender equality, but also an essential accelerator for achieving sustainable development goals.

During the launch event, each of the 50 AGCCI participants received a laptop to support their learning journey as they gear up for an intensive two-week coding camp to take place during school holidays later this year.

The coding camp will expose the girls to various subject areas to strengthen their digital literacy and work readiness, including design thinking, programming, robotics, animation, and gaming, among others.

In March this year, UN Women's Representative in Rwanda, Jennet Kem revealed the programme was to start in Rwanda, saying that coding should not just be seen as something that is reserved for men. "It is for human beings, and human beings are men and women, boys and girls.”

AGCCI was launched in 2018 by UN Women and the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and other partners.