International Telecommunication Union

Geneva, Switzerland, 2015, April 23

This year, Girls in ICT Day was celebrated on 23 April, 2015. ITU hosted a special event in ICT Discovery, our museum dedicated to the history of telecommunications at ITU Headquarters in Geneva. Over 110 girls were invited from local schools to attend workshops on satellites, creative coding, mobile apps, website development, and robotics. This was followed by a Career Fair, where attendees had a chance to meet female ICT professionals and learn about relevant study programmes and job opportunities in the sector. Inspirational talks were given by role models from, including CERN, Internet Society, Cisco, Google, Graduate Institute, Rails Girls Leman/Colazione da Tiffany, and ITU Telecom World Young Innovators Competition. In addition, EPFL, HEIG-VD and University of Geneva were present to share information about their relevant study programmes.

Novartis Foundation was the principal sponsor of the event and LEGO Education the content partner. In addition, the event was supported by the Permanent Missions of the US, Finland and Poland in Geneva.

As part of the event, ITU launched a blogging competition among the local schools in Geneva inviting girls to create blogs and write articles on ICT related topics. The three winners from British School of Geneva were awarded a prize at the event. The winners and links to their blogs are the following:

Rumbidzai Muyambo: http://fashionablyrude.weebly.com/

Molly Brown www.techgeekgirl.weebly.com

Maria Costa http://m-reads.weebly.com/

Download the full event programme: English | Français

View all the photos on Flickr here and Storify here

Panel Discussion: Practical solutions to address the pipeline of girls and women in ICT

Open to ITU Member States & Sector Members, UN agencies, Diplomatic Missions, universities, local teachers and academic advisors.
Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Venue: Geneva, ITU Tower, Level -2, Popov Room 2
Webcast Archived : here.
Remote participation: here.

Moderated by Ms Susan Schorr, Head of Special Initiatives Division, ITU BDT

Keynote Speakers:

• Ms. Telle Whitney, CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute
• Ms. Judith Owigar, Co-founder and Executive Director of AkiraChix​

Video message from Ms Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College

Panelists:

• H.E. Päivi Kairamo, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Finland in Geneva
• H.E. Elayne Whyte Gómez, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Costa Rica in Geneva

Switzerland_judith_owigar_girls_in_ict.pdf : Presentation by Ms. Judith Owigar, Co-founder and Executive Director of AkiraChix