Jan 28th, 2019, Nairobi (Kenya), Dubai (UAE): TAP Africa has formed solid alliances with Consulnet Corporation, WomenInTechPK, The Shima Foundation, and Ananke Magazine, in an effort to bridge the tech gap in Kenya and expand as well as unlock economic opportunities for young people. With the primary focus on girls in the country’s rural areas, the organization aims to empower and embolden them through innovative and holistic digital literacy program.
TAP Africa strives to tap into the potential of young people, comprising mostly girls, as agents of change in Kenyan communities. The organization engages them in learning and addressing social challenges all across the country, such as gender-based violence and youth unemployment.
Talking about the partnerships, Gladys Muthara, the founderof TAP Africa says: “It is a great moment for us to forge these new partnerships with our esteemed allies in order to enhance our work and impact in transforming the lives of young people in Kenya’s informal and rural communities. We are humbled that each one of them has committed to working with us in different aspects, to ensure the successful delivery of the ‘barely-affordable’ Digital Literacy and Skills Training opportunities to young people. We are optimistic that this project will be a game-changer by unlocking opportunities and expanding economic possibilities for young people, particularly girls living in poverty. Indeed, we are excited to walk this journey with you and to learn from the incredible work you, our partners, have been doing to transform the lives of girls in various parts of the world.”
Consulnet Corporation; an organization based in Pakistan is making efforts to close the gender gap in technology through training women and girls on coding and other essential tech and non-tech skills. Shamim Rajani, founder of Consulnet Corporation says: “ConsulNet is excited to share its knowledge with TAP Africa to grow their Digital Literacy Program.” She further talks about the importance of working hand in hand with a global partner to broaden their vision on improving the technology space, particularly for women.
Another important collaborator, WomenInTech Pakistan’s main focus is in helping women get access to education, employment, and networking opportunities. Their mission is to help create an inclusive environment for women technologists in Pakistan. Faiza Yousuf, founder of WomenInTechPk had this to say about partnering with TAP Africa:“WomenInTechPK is thrilled to have TAP Africa as one of its international partners and we are really excited for this collaboration as it can bring excellent opportunities for youth, especially girls in Kenya. Their digital literacy program has the potential to create meaningful impact in the local communities and we will be working together to ensure that we achieve the set objectives”.
TAP Africa’s another groundbreaking alliance is with The Shima Foundation; a UK based non-profit, with offices and operations in Kenya. The foundation creates opportunities for both girls and boys from marginalized backgrounds to access quality education and training opportunities that would, otherwise, not be readily available to them. Nelly Omwando, Country Manager of The Shima Leadership Academies Foundation (Kenya) says, “The Shima Leadership Academies Foundation is pleased to partner with TAP Africa to transform young people’s lives. This partnership will help to achieve greater leverage among stakeholders in terms of creating awareness and provide a platform for advocacy on digital literacy.
“This also comes at a very opportune time, hence, in order to address complex issues that require equipping young people with leadership and digital literacy skills we need to offer a continuum of services in order to meet the beneficiaries’ needs. We would like to thank TAP Africa for considering us as partners to strengthen, expand project reach, quality of services, and impact.”
The Shima Foundation is our key strategic partner in resource mobilization and project implementation.
To spearhead a successful project, you definitely need a strong team behind you, and Ananke has been at the forefront of providing us with the much needed, indispensable online platform to reach out to a larger audience, globally.
Ananke, a non-profit, online interactive platform based in Dubai (UAE) focusing on gender, inclusion and diversity through awareness, advocacy and education. Ananke also collaborates, with leading global entities that are working towards empowering women and girls through training, mentoring, and guidance.
Sabin Muzaffar, founder of Ananke had this to say: “We are absolutely thrilled to be onboard this very important and relevant initiative. TAP Africa has been doing such amazing work – be it related to violence or equipping the youth with knowledge and learning. I applaud them for their vision and efforts and look forward to working with them very closely.”
TAP Africa has launched the DigitalLiteracyfor Employability and Entrepreneurship Project (DLEEP) inKirinyaga County.A projectthatseeks to address the high unemployment rates, by enabling young people, mainly girls, between 15 and 25years, to procure high on demand technical skills and knowledge, they require to be gainfully employed and ultimately, create employment opportunities for others, through application of the entrepreneurship skills learned as part of the project.
At the inception of DLEEP, TAP Africa steered a test for six girls and six boys, to be trained on Computer Skills for the very first time in their lives. Jane,a17-year-old girlfrom Hon. Kiragu Secondary School said, “I have always prayed for a chance to learn computers and am very happy for this opportunity”.
DLEEP’s main goal is torun free ICT Sessions/Trainings to reach its goal of 500 young people, 70% girls, by the end of 2019 and scale this number to 1000 in the next two years. Further, this group of beneficiaries will be responsible for peer-training over 2500 others, through community service activities, aimed at engaging the young people in being part of the solution.
Together, let’s make the dreams of our young people achievable by granting them necessary skills to access limitless knowledge and opportunities, to enable them to realize their fullest potentials.
How you can support our work:
- Donate a new or used laptop
- Sponsor a rural girl/boy Education (100 USD)
- Outreach/Linkages : Help us reach out to potential sponsors
News story by Nyambura Mugachia
(TAP Africa’s Social Media and Resource Mobilization Leadfor DLEEP)
(Website: www.tapafrica-1.org)
