Farida Naa Bedwei (2rd from left) in a group photograph with the participants
MTN Ghana Foundation has launched its maiden Apps development project dubbed, MTN Girl Code: Tech Camp for women at a brief ceremony at MTN House in Accra on Wednesday.
According to Cynthia Lumor, Executive Director, MTN Ghana Foundation, the project would focus on increasing the participation of women in the MTN Apps Challenge from the current 3% to an appreciable level over the next three years.
She further stated that it would focus on setting up an Apps Camp to train young females from tertiary institutions between the ages of 18 and 30 in Mobile Apps development, Internet of Things (IoT) project development and Animated Video Creation.
The Executive Director further stated that cash prizes would be presented to the finalists after the training period while the best projects designed and developed from the three programme areas will selected for entry into the MTN Apps Challenge.
She indicated that participants for the maiden edition of the MTN Girl Code are expected to be selected from four tertiary institutions in the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti and Northern regions.
While encouraging more young ladies to develop interest in ICT, the Executive Director added that by training more women in the sector, the benefits of Apps development and ICT as a whole would be extended to the larger society to improve the livelihood of people in communities across the country.
“It is our belief that our drive towards increasing access to ICT throughout the country can be truly achieved through involvement of more females in the sector,” he remarked.
She expressed hope that the project will strengthen the skills of existing and aspiring female developers, engineers and animation designers and also increase the number of females with the requisite skills to compete in future editions of the MTN Apps Challenge.
Farida Naa Bedwei and Vida Anima Ackon, Software Engineers, called on more women to get actively involved in projects to solve challenges in society.
By Solomon Ofori