CARICOM Girls in ICT Partnership Hosts First Digital Dialogue on International Girls in ICT Day

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Girls in ICT Partnership will host
an online regional event to celebrate International Girls in ICT Day on
23 April, 2020.

International Girls in ICT Day is an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiative and is observed every year on the fourth Thursday of April, under the theme: ‘Expand Horizons, Change Attitudes’. The main objective is to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in ICTs and STEM-related fields.

Given the prevailing global circumstances related to the COVID19 virus, and cognizant of the need to use the Internet in a sustainable manner at this time, the Partners agreed to host one main regional event.

The online event on Thursday at 10am will be the first of a series
entitled ‘CARICOM Digital Dialogue’. It will be held under the theme
‘Regional Resilience of ICT, STEM and Youth’.

The Digital Dialogue will have two main presentations. The first
centres on Girls and ICT: Actualising CARICOM’s potential. The second
focuses on ICT, Youths and Covid-19.  CARICOM Youth Ambassadors
will also participate and provide reflections and insight on ways to
attract more CARICOM youth to ICT/STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics) careers.

CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, PhD, will deliver opening remarks at the event.

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), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organization (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.