AWiC

An online educational platform for Afghan women interested in technology and computing to: Develop their skills and gain experience Be mentored Become a freelancer Receive mental health support

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Inspiration

1) All the years I lived as an immigrant in Iran and then living alone in a patriarchal society as an independent woman, computer, connection, communication, reading, internet and accessing the internet saved me and pushed me to go further. Combining this to practicing gender equality in life as value, I became passionate about women's empowerment through technology.

2) Coming from an all-girls high school, spaces tailored to women such as Girls Who Code and Women in Computing have always been an uplifting place where I could explore my interests in coding and be supported by other females. I have been fortunate to be able to have these spaces in my life and being able to extend that to those who may have never been able to have access to these spaces before is a mission I want to help achieve.

What it does

Afghan women were forbidden to go to school after the collapse of the country last summer, but they still have access to the internet. The online education platform aims to provide Afghan women with opportunities to improve their skills and acquire practical experience through a lesson plan tailored to a particular student's background, interests, and objectives. Furthermore, we are seeking volunteers who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise in support of Afghan women. Thus, students will be mentored throughout their learning path. By the support we provide for educators to work on their resume, LinkedIn profile, and GitHub account, as well as applying for remote jobs, they will become freelancers. In order to retain motivation and stay on track during their stay with us, they would receive mental health support.

Though this project:

  • Bridging the gender gap by involving women in traditionally male-dominated fields.
  • Students will acquire financial independence, which will empower them
  • A large network of people from around the world engaged in the project.
  • Empowering women through technology in a war-torn society
  • As a platform, it can be replicated in other developing countries if it is successful.

Challenges we ran into

As for the technical part, we ran into some errors since we don't have much experience, but we have a simple demo available on GitHub. We also had challenges implementing a login page since we did not know PHP, but we were able to make it work.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We would be able to work as a team even though we only met each other yesterday. We got to know each other and collaborate on a team project.

What we learned

We learned how to bring our ideas to the paper, discuss them, and put them into action. We were able to learn new skills and practice coding.

What's next for AWiC

Our hope is to begin recruiting mentors on the website, find the materials, network in Afghanistan, and look for volunteers to help.

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