CARICOM Girls in ICT partnership holds virtual events for Girls in ICT Day 2021

Several agencies, as well as regional and international organisations operating in the Caribbean are collaborating to host events to observe Girls in ICT Day this year. The Day will be observed primarily virtually this year under the international theme ‘Connected Girls, Creating Brighter Futures’.

The CARICOM Girls in ICT partnership Steering Committee is hosting the virtual events via Zoom (Meeting ID: 924 4826 3625; PASSCODE: 406634) and Facebook Live on the CARICOM page will be held around an adapted theme, ‘Connecting CARICOM Girls; Creating Brighter Futures”.

A panel of speakers on the day itself, Thursday, 22 April 2021, comprises girls and women who are influencers and practitioners in the information and communication technology field. Discussants during the virtual event from 10 am to 2pm will be:

• Tiffani Teachey, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, advocate, professional speaker and best-selling author of What can I be : STEM careers from A-Z;
• Ingrid Riley, an award-winning Caribbean Tech Industry Trailblazer, Digital Media Entrepreneur, Syndicated Tech Blogger, Podcaster, Event Producer;
• Laura Alvarez Modernel, a Sr. Programme Manager for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector
• Ms. Danielle Mullings, President, Faculty of Science and Technology Guild Committee
• Ms. Samantha Sheoprasad Ecosystem Developer, Trifinity Solutions, Guyana
• Ms. Mikiela Gonzales-Campbell Math Educator & Entrepreneur, Jamaica
• Ms. Chelsea Jordan S&T Guild Representative & Ecology with environmental Science Student, Barbados
• Ms. Donna Buchanan -Lynch Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction & Herbal Alchemist and Apiarist, Jamaica

Global technologist, Innovator, Catalyst and Philanthropist, Erica Simmons, will moderate the event. CARICOM Girls in ICT Partnership Focal Point, CARICOM, Jennifer Britton, who is Deputy Programme Manager, ICT4D at the CARICOM Secretariat, will make opening remarks. Representatives from partner organisations, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), UNESCO, UNICEF and UN Women will share international policy perspectives for this year with respect to activities to celebrate CARICOM Girls in ICT.

The following day, 23 April, the event from 10am to noon will take the form of practical demonstrations of the application of science and technology. This segment will feature online games, videos and animations of ICT and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and Geography.

The CARICOM Girls in ICT Partnership comprises Ministries of ICT, Youth, Education and Gender in CARICOM Member States and Associate Members, and regional and international organisations. Those organisations are: Guyana Animation Network (GAN) Inc, European Union – Guyana, STEM Guyana, Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC) – Guyana, Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), University of Guyana, University of the West Indies, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), CARICOM Youth Ambassadors corp. (CYAP), Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), ITU, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),  CANTO, and Caribbean Cybersecurity Centre (CCSC). CARICOM Ministers responsible for ICT had endorsed the partnership in November 2019. They recognised that a regional partnership was a good initiative to advance the work to attract more youth of the Region to ICT and STEM careers to support CARICOM resilience.

This is the 10^th year of the international observance of Girls in ICT Day.  Since 2011, more than 377,000 girls and young women have participated in more than 11,400 International Girls in ICT Day celebrations in 171 countries, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which initiated the observance. The Day is set aside to place the spotlight on girls and young women with the aim of encouraging and empowering them to consider studies and careers in the growing field of ICTs. This will enable both girls and technology companies to reap the benefits of greater female participation in the ICT sector.

The CARICOM Secretariat encourages widespread participation in the events using the following hashtags: #caricomgirlsinict and #caricomwomeninict