Background
Women Techmakers(WTM) powered by Google Developer Groups(GDG), celebrates the international women's day(IWD) by organizing events all over the world through their GDG leads. The aim and vision of WTM is to provide visibility, community and resources to women in technology. One of the google communities in Kenya, is in Western Kenya(Kisumu,Bondo and Kakamega).
Western Kenya’s debut in organizing the International women’s day conference was in 28th March 2015. The event brought together 300 people from around western Kenya and Nairobi. More details of the event can be found here.
IWD 2016- KISUMU
Staying true to the WTM vision, the WTM community in Kisumu organized the IWD conference on 12th March 2016 at the Planet Media Cinemas. The theme of this year’s Conference was “It’s our time to lead,” which allowed our speakers to explore best- topics on how ladies can take advantage of opportunities available for them. There were 3 keynote addresses , 2 speakers and a panel discussion with 5 women from different professional backgrounds.. The audience was treated to eclectic presentations whose topics included ‘taking the stage’, ‘ Don’t wait to be asked’ , ‘ making a difference’, ‘ creating your career path in university’.
The panel discussion was on ‘Breaking the glass ceiling’. Additionally, the conference gave a platform to young girls who have been part of the schools technovation mentorship programme to present what they have been working on for the past 2 months.
Technovation challenges girls all over the world to build a mobile app that will address a community problem.Women Techmakers Kisumu chapter has been running this year's’ technovation challenge by providing coaches and mentors to the girls.
The schools that participated include Arya primary school, Lions High school and Kisumu Girls.Further, the event brought together, women , girls and men from within and without Kisumu drawn from the local universities,the tech community in Western Kenya from LakeHub. Our youngest audience in attendance were aged 12yrs from Arya Primary school
Women Techmakers lead for the Kisumu chapter, Dorcas Adhiambo gave the opening remarks as she officially opened the conference.
Keynote Presentation
The Conference's’ first keynote address was by Dorothy Ooko, the communications manager of Google East and Francophone Africa,one of the main sponsors of the event through Google Kenya.The title of her talk was “Taking the stage”. She urged the audience, that for you take the stage one of the key things to do is always to prepare. Her presentation offered an interactive platform where the she posed questions to the audience as they provided her with feedback.
The second Keynote speaker was Ife Osaga, the legal counsel of Google East and Francophone Africa. Ife’s topic was on “Do not wait to be asked”. She urged the women in the audience, that while forging your career path, ask for what you are good at and passionate about and learn to negotiate for your value while at it.
The third keynote address was by Agasna Afrophilia who spoke on ‘Making a difference’. Agasna is the managing partner at Agasna and Othero Company advocates. She is arguably one of the youngest managing partners in Kisumu. She urged the audience, that for you to make a difference you have to take the first step of actually doing the work. Citing examples in the political scenes, she urged women not shy off from vying because only then will you be able to identify challenges and make a difference at the grass root level.
The programme had 9 teams guided by their coaches drawn from the LakeHub and programme lead Dorcas Adhiambo. The presentations staggered through the entire conference schedule. The girls were a display of confidence and brilliance as they comfortably answered questions posed by the audience on their different solutions through mobile applications. The presentations were as per below:
Technovation presenations
Primary School category
HrCa This app was presented by a 12 year old girl called Betty Amondi alongside her team members.It’s an app that helps young girls to report cases of child abuse that happen in schools while making provision for anonymity.
H-amusement;This is a game app provides information on HIV/AIDS.It was done and presented by 12 year old girls
Chakuchokora ; This is an app that helps collect and distribute food leftovers in school to street children.This too was presented by a 12 year old girl called,Precious Laura
High School Category (15 and 16 years old girls)
SupaShoppa;Shopping for the people with disability from the comfort of their homes and the ability to compare prices from the local stores and request for delivery right at the doorstep or at the office. Not limited to physically challenged but useful for everyone else.
Farmers Choice ; Farmer's choice is a mobile app that provides information on fertilizers, at what stage of a plant's growth should one apply, cost, effects on soil, and where to get the best, and connect fertilizer manufacturers and sellers to users.
BarterX ;Why would you use money for a service while you could exchange it with another professional with an equivalent worth? The app allows you to exchange goods and services without using money.
E-safi ; E-safi is a mobile application that helps collect e-waste materials in our environment. The application recognizes the burden of e-waste in the 21st century.
BabyBuddy ; Baby Buddy is a mobile app that tracks child care and growth from child birth by reminding mothers of their hospital visits and vaccination dates plus appointments with pediatricians. This would help in reducing the high infant mortality rate.
Introtime ;Getting around a new place is usually a problem. This application guides you through an organisation and gives you necessary details such as the directions to a particular place/ persons office. It gives extra information like history of the school, school program and the previous performance in the national examination.
Daftari ; It a mobile app that reminds students of all the assignments given
iMedic ; Its a mobile app that will help people in remote area access faster medical help from on their mobile phones.
Other speakers and Panel discussion
For the afternoon session we had Chrispine Odhimabo, lead designer at LakeHub and founder of Tulasoft Chris, took the audience through reasons why a technology career is one of the best career for women. The other speaker was Cynthia Anyango, founder of Ujirani and a first year computer science student at Maseno University. Cynthia gave a personal account to provide insights to young university students on how to forge your career path while still in school. She urged the young audience, to always be on the lookout for voluntary opportunities that expose them to their interests and give them a chance to gain skills while still in college. Cynthia, at 17 was one of the youngest founders of her start up company Ujirani.
Panel discussion
The panel discussion titled “Breaking the ceiling” was very interactive, insightful and informative. The topic was crafted bearing in my mind that the this phrase has been used figuratively in several occasions, to inspire men and women to achieve more and encourage them that they are capable of doing so. The panel consisted of experienced professionals from diverse backgrounds. They included:
- Dorothy Ooko- Communications Manager at Google
- Ife Osaga-Odondo - Legal counsel for Sub saharan Africa at Google
- Renish Mboya- Computer Science Lecturer at Maseno University
- Salim Faridah -Nominated member of county assembly Kisumu
Conclusion
The IWD 2016 Kisumu, was concluded at 5:30 pm with a vote of thanks by Winnie Makokha and thereafter a brief networking among the audience and photo session.
Appreciation: The IWD 2016 Kisumu organizing committee appreciates all the efforts, resources and support from our partners GDG Kenya, Women@Google Kenya chapter and LakeHub that made the day successful.
Appendix 1: The Speakers
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| Dorothy Ooko |
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| Ife Osaga-Odondo |
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| Agasna Afrophilia |
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| Chrispine Odhimbo |
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| Panel Discussion |
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Compiled by Dorcas Adhiambo and Winnie form Rabera
