ITU and UN Women launch initiative to strengthen women’s digital literacy skills in Africa

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and UN Women, in collaboration with the African Union Commission, have launched a new initiative to equip girls and young women in Africa with digital literacy skills. The African Girls Can CODE Initiative (AGCCI) is a four-year progamme that aims to train and empower girls and young women aged 17 to 20 years old across Africa to become computer programmers, creators and designers, and to take up studies and careers in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Over the next four years, the initiative plans to hold 14 coding camps across Africa, the last of which is planned to coincide with the 2022 African Union Summit. The main aim of the camps is to inspire young girls to build their computing and ICT skills through hands-on experiences.