A global children’s charity, Theirworld and Oando Foundation, an independent charity organisation have partnered to empower Nigerian girls and young women. This initiative is geared towards providing them with a unique opportunity to learn important technology skills in a safe environment through an innovative pilot project known as Code Clubs.

“With a safe space to learn and play, a mentor to inspire, and access to technology to be able to explore, create, and code we can increase learning opportunities and empower girls to fulfill their potential,” said Sarah Brown, President of Theirworld.

Despite thousands of jobs being created in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries across Africa, gender discrimination, lack of access to education and technology have often kept girls out of the work force. This has also made it impossible to break the cycle of poverty.

As a result of the several issues affecting the development of women in Africa, Code Club Nigeria is set to be launched ahead of Africa Code Week in collaboration with the Oando Foundation.

What is the code club?

The Code Club’s are low-cost, sustainable and scalable safe spaces where girls can be empowered by learning to code, foster creative thinking and increase knowledge and skill-set for the future.

Over 600 girls aged six to twenty-five in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will join the Code Clubs in its pilot phase with the aim of reaching thousands more with its self-sustaining model – where girls who have completed the course will return to mentor the next cohort of girls, with community support to augment the scalability of the project.

“Oando Foundation is using this strategic partnership to enhance its commitment to Information and Communications Technology  (ICT) education particularly for the girl child; with a medium term target of having Code Clubs in every Oando Foundation adopted school across Nigeria impacting over 60,000 girls lives,” said, Ade Adegoke, Head, Oando Foundation.

“To remain competitive in today’s global world, technology skills are vital, hence our desire is for young girls in Nigeria to develop sustained interest in ICT and increase their proficiency in this field,” Ade said further.

A key area of focus for Oando Foundation is the establishment of ICT centres in adopted schools and building the competency of young children in practical application of the ICT curriculum.

What you didn’t know about the Oando Foundation

• Oando PLC currently provides 1 % of its annual pretax profit to fund the Foundation.
• The Foundation has also established strategic partnerships with government, the private sector, international development partners, NGOs and civil society to fulfill its goals and objectives.
• Oando Foundation has so far adopted 47 schools across 20 states in Nigeria.
• The Foundation plans to adopt 100 schools by 2015. This will directly affect over 200,000 lives by ensuring over 100,000 pupils has access to quality primary education.
• The foundation will also broaden the capacity of over 4,000 teachers, award scholarships to over 2,560 pupils to reduce direct and indirect costs of education to students.