NorthRift Women in STEM

An essential goal of the 2013 National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Master Plan is to make Kenya a knowledge-based economy by 2030. All Kenyans should be able to use ICT to improve their knowledge, enhance their businesses, and improve their livelihoods. Kenya is shifting from a low-wage, labor-based economy to a middle-income, knowledge-based economy. There is a pressing need to build local ICT capacity.Existing programs supporting women/girls in STEM are concentrated in the major cities. Opportunities in rural and semi-rural areas is nearly non-existent.

Our solution provides women/girls who are minority in STEM with skills needed to gain entry into the emerging ICT industry.

Our aim is to deflate the myth that technology is only for men by providing women with the skills to engage with technology, and teach the theoretical understanding they need to solve ICT problems, which makes them competitive in the job market locally and globally. 

In developed countries women represent  26% of the STEM workforce, according to We Forum.Females have been the minority when it comes to tech industry. While more women are in the workforce today, very few women are working in technology. At tech companies, the general make-up of staff shows an overwhelming male majority.According to one study on Silicon Valley startups, only 12% of engineers there are women. In Kenya, less women are studying STEM subjects and organizations lack a pool of women talent to recruit from into the ICT industry.According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics,only 21.4% females are in STEM careers.Getting more women into tech today will break the cycle of a male dominated industry and fill the talent demand by the ICT industry.

Computer science remains a male-dominated field in Kenya. Most organizations like Safaricom are making efforts to recruit female computer science students, making this an ideal time for women to pursue computer science degrees. If we are to increase more women prospering in the ICT workforce, we need to support more girls choosing computer science at the high school level. Hence the need to encourage, support and empower more girls to pursue STEM careers.

Northrift Women In STEM  uses USSD and SMS based mobile application that to organize bootcamps for  women and girls from age 6 to 24 years; Each camp  enrolls 30 women and girls who are taught practical, hands-on skills including coding for emerging technologies in Digital Advertising, Data Science, and IoT, as well as, tips  to access to online/digital jobs. Participant selection is  based on basic knowledge and understanding of Information Technology concepts, from underprivileged backgrounds. Pretest is used to determine eligibility. Potential participants are evaluated by staff and the top 30 are awarded a year-long mentorship program providing advanced programming skills, lessons on entrepreneurship, and job-matching or links to digital-work or internships upon program completion. Before Corona we used to organize physical meetings but with goverment directive we had to close down. We then incoporated technology and innovation to allow peer to peer learning, this was to ensure that the goals and the objectives of this project are achieved regardless of the pandemic. By leveraging a knowledge-based platform for women and girls  one which allows peer to peer learning, this will continue serving them for over a long period of time and also promote sustained growth and development.  

Kenya’s North Rift region, particularly known for cattle rustling, inter-tribal and boundary conflicts, early marriages and unfair cultural practices like Female Genital mutilation (FGM), remains marginalized and least served. STEM training for young women/girls will bolster the economy by increasing learning, business activity and decreasing unemployment.

Target population is 450 unemployed women and girls, across 5 counties, from age 6 up to age 24 in yearly  in the North Rift region of Kenya. Many women and girls have academic education but there is a mismatch between their skills and job market demands. Others have dropped out of school having no academic papers at all.All would benefit from hands-on training in coding and theoretical knowledge to successfully run tech businesses. The project  increase the number of women/girls excelling in STEM practical competencies.They  gain employment, hence able to support themselves and eventually their families.

30 bright minds are then supported through a year long intensive program to impart with 21st century skills for tomorrow’s opportunities with at least 15 of them provided with internship placements, matched with jobs and links to digital work.

We  support at least six viable ideas which will be incubated and mentored to fruition.

Young women/girls in the region are not in  class because of early marriages,  societal conflicts ,financial challenges and cultural barriers.

The Covid 19 pandemic has also forced girls to stay out of school and young women have limited access to finances for STEM training/businesses

450 young women/girls will benefit from STEM  practical skills training and internship/job placement to assist them become more employable hence become self sustainable and young women can comfortably take care of their families.

Due to Covid 19 restrictions,the project will use online learning methods i.e SMS/USSD platforms to reach the beneficiaries.

We turn women and girls' mobile phones into their own personal learning and education platform through Northrift Women in STEM platform,  USSD and SMS based mobile application  acts as a e-learning/capacity building platform for women and girls in western Kenya on STEM and entrepreneurship we also link women with blue collar jobs.

Existing programs supporting women and girls in STEM are concentrated in the major cities. Opportunities in rural and semi-rural areas are nearly non-existent.Our beneficiaries are at a disadvantage because they come from rural, marginalized areas. The have little resources and access to opportunities. Therefore they don't afford to enroll in public/private institutions (our competitors) that offer STEM Education.

The institutions are located in towns and the course fees are expensive for them. In addition, the beneficiaries may be young mothers hence choose to use their time to take care of their young families rather than going to school. Our unique innovation will benefit the beneficiaries in that it involves ''taking the solution to the beneficiaries'', instead of ''waiting for the beneficiaries to go look for the solution''.

Our program is tailor made and puts into consideration the circumstances specific to a particular target region. We shall engage  discussions with parents/guardians/teachers of young girls to allow them enroll for classes. By teaching young women/girls how ICT work, we provide them with fundamental skills to engage with the technology, and teach the theoretical understanding needed to solve ICT problems.

As mentioned here, we used to run all this programs through physical meeting but due to corona, we closed down to comply with goverment directives to minimize the spread of Corona, we then had to continue with our programs we moved to video conferencing which did not work because most women/girls had feature phones with no access to internet. We then moved to USSD/SMS platform to continue with our service and it is now our core technology USSD and SMS based mobile application  acts as a e-learning/capacity building platform for women and girls in western Kenya on STEM and entrepreneurship we also link women with blue collar jobs.

The young women/girls are taught practical, hands-on skills including coding for emerging technologies in Digital Advertising, Data Science, and IoT, as well as, tips on how to access to online/digital jobs

The women and girls get SMS alerts and can dial a USSD code which allows them to get learning information in their local language, get milestones, feedback on their projects and even pitch their ideas. Based on the women's background we also introduced job-matching where they are matched with jobs, the market themselves, their skills and get links to potential employers. 

A report by Cellfind indicates that the USSD old technology is still widely used. They clain that what  used  to check the airtime balance on a phone has grown into a multi-functional channel for a huge variety of applications and initiatives in Africa.

Banks are using it to builld mobile banking applications for their customers who do not own a smartphones and lack/access to the Internet. This is where the true value of USSD lies, particularly in Africa: it works on just about any phone, anywhere.

Cell Find report indicate Africa as a continent has r 80 percent mobile penetration, but only 18 percent Internet penetration. As a result, smartphones are relatively rare, and features phones dominate the market. This is why SMS and USSD is our choice to continue supporting women and girls in western Kenya through STEM education, entrepreneurship, job marching and links to local work.

Here are articles to prove 

https://qz.com/africa/1296120/how-a-20-year-old-mobile-technology-protocol-is-revolutionizing-africa/

https://www.cellfind.net.za/when-old-school-rules-why-ussd-applications-are-still-rocking-campaigns-in-africa/

Activity 1.There will be recruitment and selection of participants
Output 1.The output will be that there will be committed young women/girls participating in STEM education.
Outcome 1.450 young women and girls trained on the STEM programs. Young women /girls will be trained on STEM education. They will have employability competencies and entrepreneurship skills to succeed in the STEM field
Evidence 1: Data from questionnaires filled by participants
Activity 2.Arrangement of innovation workshops and competitions
Output 2.Comprehensive program on innovations and content creation/idea creation
Outcome 2.Increase in quality and number of the projects/innovations. At least 6 quality incubated ideas will have been mentored to fruition. There will be 450 women trained on innovations and quality ideas and out of those who will present their innovations, at least 6 of them will be mentored by the organization to fruition
Evidence 2 : End of Project report
Activity 3 Training and capacity building program for TOTs
Output 3 Arrangement of trainings and capacity building program for TOTs
Outcome 3: 6 training events organized for 9 TOTs trained continuously over the course of the project to ensure
Evidence 3 Continuous Assessment Report
Activity 4: Establish partnerships to support the project
Output 4: Partnerships with government, public and private organizations.
Outcome 4: Increase the partnerships with government, private and public organizations to facilitate project success, job placements/internship placements and also facilitate tech businesses startup. 450 young women/girls trained on STEM skills and competencies and at least 30 % supported on internships and job placements in STEM roles. 
Evidence 4: Impact Evaluation Report

Since inception we have  served over 1,150 young girls and women in 3 counties in the Northrift region of Kenya

We intend to reach 450 young girls/women in 12 months in this phase of our program, covering 5 Counties in the North rift region of Kenya.

In one year,we intend to scale our operations and reach 2,000 young girls and women in 5 counties in the Northrift region of Kenya

In five years ,we intend to have grown and be able to directly impact 10,000 young girls and women in 8 counties in the North rift region in Kenya.

In one year,we intend to directly impact 450 women and girls across the five counties in the North Rift region through technical and professional training in STEM, provide internship/ job placement and entrepreneurial skills.

5 year goal;

Job Placements:  Hiring organizations will recruit through our organization .Many STEM employers have indicated that they receive few or none applications from women and girls.

Registration of a Vocational Technical Training Center: A vocational technical training center for women and girls will provide technical trainings. The  students  will access services at a subsidized fee.We also aim to negotiate with the county government on how they can sponsor girls/women from poor social and economic backgrounds in the region. Ten percent of the participants who are from poor backgrounds will be provided with scholarships. We shall partner with women focused organizations like Akili Dada for the girls and women to be sponsored.

Partnerships and Collaborations: We will establish partnerships with interested funding institutions and other partners with common goals and grow the program forward. 

Applying for Funding Opportunities: We will continually be on the lookout for opportunities that will help us achieve our objective and make applications for funding.

Outreach Programs for Schools on ICT and Design Thinking: We have established that each school has a fee set aside for personal development for their students. Private schools and public schools will enroll their students for STEM training.While those from poor communities will be provided for free

Barriers to achieving our short and long term goal include;

Cultural

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) ,early marriages, parents preferring to educate boys than girls,unsafe and unconducive learning environments in learning institutions.

Societal Conflicts like inter-tribal conflicts, geographical boundaries conflicts, post election conflicts, cattle rustling conflicts, girls encouraged to choose ''women friendly courses'' by their families or societal expectation. All these force young women/girls to stay out of STEM class/ or make the locations difficult for us to access and impart the STEM training.STEM subjects are seen as hard and unrewarding

Financial As an organization we need more funds to be able to develop content, continuously upgrade the content, continuously train the trainers and also to  mobilize learners

Lack of resources

Young women and girls may be forced to stay out of class because of lack of money to buy internet bundles

Technical. We will need to continuously upgrade curriculum and technology to be used in the online learning, to match the changing trends. We also need to empower the beneficiaries to have smart phones that will be used in online learning

Market - Lack of support from the school system in some areas

How we will overcome the barriers;

Cultural

Carry out sensitization events to sensitize communities on the importance of educating the girl and particularly in STEM courses. Show successful cases of girls /women who have succeeded in STEM careers so that they can get motivated to pursue. Engage with stakeholders to promote better learning environment for learners.

Societal Good teaching ,enhance hands on training for the students to make them more interested in the subjects.Challenging out of school programs could be developed that offer high value services.Engage with stakeholders to promote better peaceful environment for learners.

Financial We aim at raising more funds from funding partners to be able to develop content, continuously upgrade trainers knowledge

Lack of resources

We intend to support young women and girls in marginalized areas to access funds to buy internet bundles and any other resource required for the learning.

Technical. Continuous training of the trainers. They need to be equipped with deep content knowledge in STEM and strong teaching skills. We will need to continuously upgrade curriculum and technology to be used in the online learning, to match the changing trends. We also need to empower the beneficiaries to have smart phones that will be used in online learning

Market - Engage with the necessary stakeholders in the school system in some areas to support the program

N/A

We have a team of 5 people running the project. 3 are full time, 2 are parttime staff. We also work with volunteers who provide trainings and mentorship to the women and girls.

Chepkemoi Magdaline- Team Leader

Project Coordinator: She is responsible of all aspects of project planning and implementation

 A computer scientist who is passionate about girls and women in STEM. She leads EldoHub, a technology and innovation hub, which empowers and supports young people to identify problems in their communities and apply different technologies to solve those problems. She has over 6 years of professional experience in software development, networking, ICT4D and education

Janet Silantoi Leparteleg-Partnerships and linkages

 Janet has over four years of professional experience and she is a certified incident handler of cybersecurity She is committed to women’s empowerment in the STEM fields, especially for women from marginalized communities. She is a trailblazer for women in the cybersecurity field, which is male-dominated. 

Caleb Ndaka David- Training and content development.

 Caleb Ndaka has over five years’ experience managing social impact projects. He is the founder and program lead at Kids Comp Camp, which helps underserved populations in Africa access quality computer training, in their own community, to explore technology, from coding to typing. 

Wilson Bandi Omollo-Financial management and evaluation

 Wilson Bandi has over seven years of experience in technology consulting and in developing go-to-market strategies for businesses in Africa. Currently, Wilson is the founder and managing director of BTAFRICA, which provides innovative technological solutions for underserved populations to access to financial products and services through mobile phones.

The project team has secured partnerships and formal buy-in from the following entities:

North Rift County Governments: - We will partner with county governments and have initiated conversations with Uasin Gishu County, Nandi County, and Elgeyo Marakwet County and reposes have been encouraging. The bootcamps will be held at the counties’ youth/ICT centers and various county departments will offer internships to camp graduates.

Local innovation center and start-up accelerator:- We will partner with EldoHub, a technology innovation Centre that since 2017, has worked with young people to identify problems in their communities and to apply various technological solutions. They will help with participant recruitment, curriculum development and faculty mobilization. They will also donate space for the yearlong mentorship program and Uasin Gishu County Bootcamps. We have secured an agreement with EldoHub already and it is eager to partner.

YALI Alumni (local chapter):- In addition to working with organizations/local governments, the project will partner with carefully selected volunteer mentors who are influential community leaders, technologists, business experts, and civic leaders. The YALI Alumni who are technical and business experts plans to use the train the trainer approach. This is where, they recruit volunteers provide them with training, then they will train, mentor and coach the women and girls on all lessons they have taken from the trainings.

We turn women and girls' mobile phones into their own personal learning and education platform through Northrift Women in STEM platform,  USSD and SMS based mobile application  acts as a e-learning/capacity building platform for women and girls in western Kenya on STEM and entrepreneurship we also link women with blue collar jobs.

Job Placements: We intent to charge a fee to outsource the best skills to technology based organizations who wish to hire more girls and women. The organization will recruit through us and then we pay the girls and mamas (women)through the project. 

Registration of a Vocational Technical Training Center: A vocational technical training center for women and girls will provide technical trainings, with this we aim to charge a fee. Full amount will be paid by those who can afford. Those from humble backgrounds will pay 20% of the total amount of which 80% will be recovered after job placements. We also aim to negotiate with the counties on how they can sponsor girls/women from poor social and economic backgrounds in the region. Ten percent of the participants who are from poor backgrounds will be provided with scholarships. We shall partner with women focused organizations like Akili Dada for the girls and women to be sponsored.

Partnerships and Collaborations: We will establish partnerships with interested funding institutions with common goals as ours and agree on how we can both benefit from each other. 

Applying for Funding Opportunities: We will continually be in the lookout for opportunities that will help us achieve our objective and make applications for funding.

Outreach Programs for Schools on ICT and Design Thinking: The schools will pay for the service offered. We have establish that each school has a fee set aside for personal development for their students. 

We would like to receive assistance in the following ways ;

Technical
• Join a supportive community of peers, funders, and experts to help advance our innovative work through Solve's nine-month program;
• Receive mentorship and strategic advice from Solve and MIT networks;
• Attend Solve at MIT annual flagship event.
• Build partnerships needed to accelerate our work, validate your impact and business model, and scale our solution
Financial
We will appreciate a financial assistance of USD 50,000 to be able to impart STEM classes to 450 young women/girls in 5 counties in the Northrift region of Kenya.

Since inception, we have been using physical training facilities to undertake STEM trainings on young women/girls.Since COVID 19 pandemic came with government directives to stay at home and observe social distance we need more resources to refine more on our operations and ensure we achieve the intended objectives. We are currently piloting our SMS/USSD platform to enable more women and girls to learn and get job opportunities. 

What we need is to work on our business model and sustainability, do market research and raise funding.

We are a non profit organization hence we would like to partner with organizations that provide us with both technical and financial support to ensure that we support more women and girls. Organizations like Google, facebook, IBM and others have programs to support women and girls. In terms of funding The pollination project, Hivos international, Girls code programs and others

e-learning platforms like Udemy to provide us with content and curriculum.

Local organizations like Safaricom Foundation and Mpesa also are keen to support organization that supports women in STEM and digital literacy

The target audience is unemployed women and girls ages 6 to 24 residing in the North Rift Valley of Kenya. Many women and girls have academic education but there is a mismatch between their skills and job market demands. Other girls and women have dropped out of school and have no academic papers at all. They could run businesses, but lack entrepreneurial skills to run successful tech businesses. All would benefit from hands-on training in coding and theoretical knowledge of business practices. Particularly motivated participants would additionally benefit from advanced training in programming. The project will increase the number of women joining and excelling in STEM in the rural region.

Kenya’s North Rift, commonly known for pastoralists and cattle rustling, remains marginalized and least served both socio-economically and educationally. STEM training will bolster the local economy by increasing business activity and decreasing unemployment among women and girls. These women and girls face multiple forms of marginalization, including parents preferring to educate boys to girls, early marriages, and Female Genital mutilation (FGM)

The funding being raised is to be used to implement an innovation that uses SMS/USSD based mobile application to act as an e-learning capacity building platform for women and girls in western Kenya on STEM and entrepreneurship including linking wome/girls with blue color jobs. We want to turn their phone into a learning tool and links to job by a click of a button

The target audience is unemployed women and girls ages 6 to 24 residing in the North Rift Valley of Kenya. Many women and girls have academic education but there is a mismatch between their skills and job market demands. Other girls and women have dropped out of school and have no academic papers at all. They could run businesses, but lack entrepreneurial skills to run successful tech businesses. All would benefit from hands-on training in coding and theoretical knowledge of business practices. Particularly motivated participants would additionally benefit from advanced training in programming. The project will increase the number of women joining and excelling in STEM in the rural region.

Kenya’s North Rift, commonly known for pastoralists and cattle rustling, remains marginalized and least served both socio-economically and educationally. STEM training will bolster the local economy by increasing business activity and decreasing unemployment among women and girls. These women and girls face multiple forms of marginalization, including parents preferring to educate boys to girls, early marriages, and Female Genital mutilation (FGM)

The funding being raised is to be used to implement an innovation that uses SMS/USSD based mobile application to act as an e-learning capacity building platform for women and girls in western Kenya on STEM and entrepreneurship including linking wome/girls with blue color jobs. We want to turn their phone into a learning tool and links to job by a click of a button