US actress named ICT envoy

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has named award winning American actress Geena Davis, as the body’s special envoy for women and girls in the field of technology. The post is linked to a new ITU campaign highlighting the empowering role technology can play in the lives of women and girls.One of Davis’ first activities in her new role as special envoy will be to promote ITU’s new ‘Tech Needs Girls’ campaign throughout the course of 2012, through public appearances at high-profile events held by ITU and others.As part of this campaign, last month four Rwanda women and girls were awarded for using the power of ICTs to provide new digital opportunities to the Rwandan community.“I’m thrilled with this new position because ITU is an incredible organisation that wields a lot of clout globally,” she is quoted in a statement sent to The New Times yesterday.“This role will enable me to take the work I’m doing to a much bigger scale globally, through developing and consulting on strategies to advance gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women in ICTs.She said that it’s incredibly important to get more women and girls connected to technology, and a big factor in making this happen is going to be ITU’s work.The Hollywood celebrity and rights activist, this year scooped the 2012 ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society Award in recognition for leadership and dedication towards promoting ICTs as a means of empowering women and girls.Davis was recognised among Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the President of Argentina and the Chairperson of Huawei Sun Yafang as laureates, at the awarding ceremony held at ITU headquarters in Geneva in May.She will speak on the importance of further extending technology to women worldwide, will reinforce the importance of positive gender role models, and will highlight the many exciting career opportunities available to young women in the high-tech sector.“I am delighted that Ms Davis will be joining us in our campaign to help expand the opportunities open to women and girls, and redress the current gender imbalance in the ICT industry,” said Dr Hamadoun Toure, the ITU Secretary-General.Touré noted that the support of committed, high-profile ambassadors like Davis will greatly increase the impact and reach of our message about ICTs and gender empowerment.Earlier this year, ITU launched a new multilingual web portal focused on helping girls and women access training, job opportunities and career information in the fast-growing ICT sector.The Girls in ICT portal hosts over 400 programmes, including over 100 scholarship programmes and an equal number of contests and awards, some 60 training and internship opportunities, over 100 online networks offering career support and mentoring, as well as tech camps and other activities.

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US actress named ICT envoy