(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Girls in ICT Partnership will host an online regional event to celebrate International Girls in ICT Day on 23 April, 2020.
International Girls in ICT Day is an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiative and is observed every year on the fourth Thursday of April, under the theme: ‘Expand Horizons, Change Attitudes’. The main objective is to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in ICTs and STEM-related fields.
Given the prevailing global circumstances related to the COVID19 virus, and cognizant of the need to use the Internet in a sustainable manner at this time, the Partners agreed to host one main regional event.
The online event on Thursday at 10am will be the first of a series entitled ‘CARICOM Digital Dialogue’. It will be held under the theme ‘Regional Resilience of ICT, STEM and Youth’.
The Digital Dialogue will have two main presentations. The first centres on Girls and ICT: Actualising CARICOM’s potential. The second focuses on ICT, Youths and Covid19. CARICOM Youth Ambassadors will also participate and provide reflections and insight on ways to attract more CARICOM youth to ICT/STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers.
CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, PhD, will deliver opening remarks at the event.
The CARICOM Girls in ICT Partnership comprises Ministries of ICT, Youth, Education and Gender in CARICOM Member States and Associate Members, and regional and international organisations. Those organisations are: Guyana Animation Network (GAN) Inc, European Union – Guyana, STEM Guyana, Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC) – Guyana, Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), University of Guyana, University of the West Indies, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), CARICOM Youth Ambassadors corp. (CYAP), Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organization (CANTO), and Caribbean Cybersecurity Centre (CCSC).
CARICOM Ministers responsible for ICT had endorsed the partnership in November 2019. They recognised that a regional partnership was a good initiative to advance the work to attract more youth of the Region to ICT and STEM careers to support CARICOM resilience.