Google announced its support of a groundbreaking
initiative to empower girls and young women in Tanzania by merging education
and technological innovation.
The grant will fund an innovative use of mobile
technology — education data will be collected by communities far from urban
centers using cell phones. The data will be uploaded directly onto Camfed’s
program database. This system has many advantages over paper-based systems —
it is more up-to-date, more accurate, and more exciting.
The Google grant will also provide 2,500 girls with a
comprehensive high school scholarship that will cover all school essentials for
one year — including school fees, uniforms, books, and school supplies.
Rural communities come to understand the power of data
because it can be acted upon with new urgency. If a child has not been in
school for a few days, her absence will be reported immediately and Camfed
staff in Tanzania will be able to respond rapidly, while there is still time to
find a solution.
“Google’s support of a community-run digital
monitoring system will markedly increase the impact Camfed makes on the lives
of girls and young women,” said Ann Cotton, founder and Executive Director
of Camfed International.
By training young women in rural Africa to use mobile
devices to monitor education programs, Camfed is creating a global platform for
communities who have historically been excluded from technology.
In Africa, technology is enabling women to leapfrog the
gender divide, challenging perceptions about women and machines. Africa has
revolutionized mobile phone technology. This initiative will open a door for
African women to apply their ingenuity and creativity to that technology to
improve life for the most vulnerable children in their communities.
Camfed fights poverty and AIDS in Africa through
educating girls and empowering young women as leaders of change. Since 1993,
1,451,600 children in some of the poorest rural districts of Ghana, Tanzania,
Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia have benefited from Camfed’s programs.
By Telecomlead.com Team
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