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BACKGROUNDInternational Girls in ICT Day is celebrated worldwide every year on the fourth Thursday of April with the objectives of encourage girls and young women to pursue STEM education, inspiring girls and young women to work in STEM careers and engaging the community and promoting collaboration through partnerships. It aims to address the core challenge of low women presence in the field of STEM education including information and communication technologies. The gap is even more pronounced at the leadership position. This gap is also prevalent in the Pacific. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2023-2027) for the Pacific signed by the UN agencies and the Governments recognizes the need for inclusion under Pillar 2 of its 4 pillars (Planet, People, Prosperity and Peace). The People pillar envisions
“By 2027, more people, particularly those at risk of being left behind, benefit from more equitable access to resilient, and gender-responsive, quality basic services, food security/nutrition and social protection systems"
and recognizes in particular the need for digital inclusion.
Girls in ICT (GICT) Day provides an opportunity for girls and young women to see and be exposed to the benefit of ICT in enabling their career aspirations. To date, over 377,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 11,400 celebrations of International Girls in ICT Day in 171 countries worldwide. In 2024, the theme for GICT is “Leadership” with the focus on inspiring girls and young women by exposing them to women in leadership position and facilitating that break down the hinderances.
Drawing upon the success of developing national and regional programmes for Girls in ICT, the Pacific Girls in ICT Day Programme was launched on 27th April 2023 together with national government, UN agencies, Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA) and Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC). Over a period of 6 months (27 April-20 October, 2023), more than 1000 girls and young women from the Pacific raise awareness and skills through a range of activities in Fiji (275 participants, 9 trainings in Cybersecurity (Online Safety & Online Scamming), coding, emerging technologies, telecommunications, leaderships, career development); Tonga, (260 participants, 5 trainings in Cybersecurity (Online Safety), leaderships, career development and digital financial literacy); Federated States of Micronesia (40 participants, 2 trainings in Cybersecurity (Online Safety)); Nauru (12 participants, 2 trainings in Basic Cyber Safety awareness and Child online protection); Kiribati (more than 500 participants joined the awareness raising and skills development sessions in Leadership, ICT Career development, Talk Tech, Cybersecurity and Online Safety. These programmes were championed and supported by governments, UN country teams, regional organizations, civil society and academia. In addition, there were also celebrations in Papua New Guinea and Samoa. Drawing upon the success of 2023, there has been continued interests form partners to strengthen the programme further in 2024.
In this background, Pacific Girls in ICT Day 2024 programme launch event is planned during the PITA AGM and Annual Business Forum and Expo that would be held between 29 April-2 May 2024 in Vanuatu.
OBJECTIVE
To launch Pacific Girls in ICT Day 2024 and enhance partnerships to scale out the programme in the Pacific.
EXPECTED OUTCOME
- Enhanced awareness on the Pacific Girls in ICT Day Programme including the experiences from the Pacific.
- Increased commitment and interests from governments, industry, development organizations, UN agencies, civil society in strengthening Pacific Girls in ICT Day programme 2024.
