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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
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Nassau, Bahamas -
Students and teachers from more than 15 high schools throughout New Providence joined more than 100,000 young women worldwide in celebrating Girls in Information and Communications Technology ( ICT) Day) recently. For the first time, women currently working in the ICT sector in The Bahamas took to the stage to share their experiences and wealth of knowledge with eager future ICT aspirant professionals. Upon entering the room, the young ladies immediately realized it was no ordinary seminar. Technology fixtures, themes and backdrops, set the tone for an exciting and stimulating day of learning and sharing.
The one day symposium and trade fair was opened by the Attorney General, the Hon. Allyson Maynard Gibson, QC who commended the organizers for ensuring that our students, particularly females, received the necessary and appropriate information to encourage them to pursue careers in the ICT sector. The Attorney General told the young ladies that there is a wonderful world of opportunities out there for them in the ICT field. “The possibilities are limitless both in the local and international markets” according to the Attorney General. “I can assure you that if you learn coding, apps development and computer science, you will have powerful tools at your disposal, allowing you to direct and drive economic prosperity for yourself and the overall socio-economic development of our country”, she said.
While internationally more than 140 countries have observed the fourth Thursday in April and have organized events to observe Girls in ICT Day since 2010, it was only this year that operators and
licensees in the sector, in particular Cable Bahamas Ltd. (CBL), BTC and ZNS joined the Utilities Regulator and Competition Authority (URCA) and mounted a successful ICT symposium and trade fair for high school females. A high powered panel of professionals and short videos featured Bahamian women in software development, media production management, broadcast management, legal and regulatory affairs and technical production assistants.
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Girls in ICT Day is an initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications. The Bahamas is a member of the ITU. The purpose of the day was to promote the ICT sector to girls and young women so as to inspire them to pursue careers in the sector. The organizers of the event concede that while women account for a large percent of the workforce nationally, there is still a gap in the number of women in the nontraditional ICT jobs. The Secretary-General of the ITU, Mr. Houlin Zhao, in his worldwide message for the occasion said that ICTs are an exciting and rapidly-growing field, offering interesting, important and well-paid job opportunities. “A career in ICT allows [you] girls to use your creativity, work in international environments, and participate in shaping our future. With 95% of all jobs now having a digital component, digital skills are no longer just an advantage, they’re essential.”
Participants had high praise for the event calling it a huge success from the opening activities by host Bodine Johnson to the closing presentation on polishing your workplace image. Seven young ladies walked away with internships, others received mobile phones and tablets all donated by the organizers and sponsors of the event. There was an added international flavor to the event as Lara Srivastavar a representative of the ITU also addressed the young ladies about the world of ICTs, confirming the opportunities in the sector worldwide.
URCA will lead several initiatives in the future to expose girls and young people in general to the many subsector ICT careers such as software engineering’ mobile app development’ coding and other content development careers.
Other events which complemented the celebration, included the production of two television talk shows featuring some of the trailblazers in the sector, namely Rowena Bethel, an ICT policy and legal expert; Judith Smith, Legal Counsel for CBL; Felicity Johnson, a former Sr. Vice President of Legal and Regulatory
Affairs for BTC and Kathleen Riviere-Smith, the first female Chief Executive Officer at URCA and the production of five 60 second infomercials featuring working ladies in the field.
The Event was sponsored by URCA, BTC, CBL and had support of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, other licensees in the sector as well as other corporate sponsors.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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