TechWomen 2014: Establishing A Network of Women In STEM across Africa and the Middle East
Started back in 2011, TechWomen is part of the United Stated Department of State’s TechWomen exchange program. For the year 2014, tech companies based in San Francisco Bay area and the Silicon Valley will play host to 78 women from different countries in Africa and the Middle East, starting September 30 till November 5th.
This initiative supports the U.S. global commitment to providing women the necessary access and opportunities they would require to pursue and advance career in STEM-related fields. The program also seeks to establish a network of mentors hailing from STEM background in order to encourage more women in their pursuit for STEM education and career.
The TechWomen 2014 participants are women from Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Lebanon, Morocco, Libya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tunisia, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Yemen.
These women will work side-by-side with techies from America’s top 40 tech-companies. They will also be attending various professional networking events and workshops that will be hosted by partners in anyone of the following: hardware, software, internet, science, telecommunication and a first debut this year, green technology.
They will interact with fellow women working in those fields who are working to provide a global solution to various environmental challenges. At the end of the program, the 78 women will return to their respective home country where they will network with other alumnae for the program and visiting US mentors.
Together they will be holding events and workshops in their home countries to recruit more women and girls into the STEM bandwagon.
Related: TechGirls Exchange Program brings North African & Middle East Girls to America.
The following are some of the professional mentor organizations for the TechWomen program: McAfee, Code for America, Adobe, BrightRoll, Cisco Systems, eBay, Everwise, LinkedIn Corporation, NASA Ames, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, NestGSV, Lumos Labs, Meltwater, Genentech, Mozilla Corporation, Ericsson, Coursera, Cleantech Open, Calix, Autodesk, San Francisco Department of the Environment, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Santa Clara University, VMware, Vista Solar, ThoughtWorks, Symantec Corporation, SunEdison, Wikispaces (Tangient) LLC.
You can also participate by joining the conversation via social media via Twitter @TechWomen and on Facebook.