4RI Talent – Women in Technology

Project Execution: 2018 – Currently

Location: Metropolitan area of the Aburra Valley, Colombia

Beneficiaries: Young women (between 13 and 25 years old) in conditions of vulnerability, low-income communities and/or in processes of restitution of rights of the metropolitan area.

Beneficiaries: Women, men and people with physical disabilities of the metropolitan area of ​​Valle de Aburrá.

Women in Technology

Women in Technology is a commitment to overcome the social and gender gap, through the approach to technology and STEM activities (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) of women from the city of Medellín and the metropolitan area, generating capabilities to make use of technology as an opportunity for social and economic inclusion, whether as a professional choice, entrepreneurship project or employability. The project is led by  Motorola Solutions Foundation  and, in a first phase, had the support of the Rodrigo Arroyave Arango Foundation. In the second phase, it received resources from the Regional Call for Social Investment of the Bolivar Davivienda Foundation.

Its execution is led by Ruta N Medellín and it has the involvement of Marina Orth Foundation and MAKAIA, who contribute from their knowledge and experiences. The activities take place in different spaces where young women are concentrated who are studying, are in the process of restitution of rights or are under the care of the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (Colombian Family Welfare Institute).

For 2019, the project was incorporated into the AvantagEd initiative of the Motorola Solutions Foundation.

Social problems addressed

As a social purpose, the program aims to overcome three phenomena of social exclusion:

  • The effect of the girl (discrimination and greater risks in situations of vulnerability)
  • The double exclusion (gender + race or gender + sexual orientation, gender + socio-economic situation, etc.); y
  • And the “NEEF” (Youth not in Education, Employment, or Training), most of whom are women.

Aliados

Objetives

General Objective: Develop and strengthen leadership, empowerment, IT skills and employability skills in women between 13 and 25 years old, through intensive training processes that allow them to obtain new personal and professional opportunities.

Specific objectives:

  • Ensure a professional team with the necessary skills that include women who inspire and motivate participants.
  • Develop an 80-hour training program in the defined curriculum and set the basis for future learning
  • Apply a contextualized methodology that motivates participants throughout the development of the project.

Phases

Marina Orth Foundation carries out intensive training in programming technology called bootcamps and MAKAIA guides the development of soft skills through technology; strengthening aspects such as assertive communication, creative thinking, leadership and teamwork, through products and tools developed in the same training processes. As cross-cutting strategies, Ruta N encourages and motivates women to interact with technology, and works to bring down negative stereotypes through various events that seek to attract talent, and promote students to participate in Science Clubs, with the Encouragement to encourage your professional orientation towards STEM areas.

First phase

In the first phase, activities were carried out at the Carlos Lleras Restrepo Criminal Responsibility Center, commonly known as “La Pola”, seeking the return to social life of groups of girls and young women, through the strengthening of soft skills and the development of other capacities and skills for working life. Likewise, this was an attempt to minimize the number of young people in the armed conflict and urban violence in the city.

At the same time, activities were carried out in the Public Educational Institution La Avanzada (Santo Domingo Savio – Commune 1 of Medellín) that strengthened the skills and work skills of young women in the grades 9, 10 and 11 to devote themselves to the areas of technology or to the continuation of studies superiors in the area, when finalizing its studies in the Institution.

Second phase

In 2019, the actions were also deployed in the Santa Clara Home, with girls who are under the care of the Franciscan sisters of Santa Clara, this center of attention is located in the rural municipality of San Andrés in Girardota. As well the activities were carried out with youth women in the Strategy of Substitute Households of the Private Committee for Child Care – PAN at the EPM library Also two groups of youth mothers from Juanfe Foundation were formed in CESDE instalations; in addition one group of girls from 9th, 10th and 11th schoolgrade from I.E Natasha y Michael D were part of the project.

Achievements

Between 2018 and 2019, we reached more than 200 hours in training, bootcamps and complementary events and 167 women were certified in the program.

For the first phase, developed in 2018, two main goals were set: 60 certified women and 120 hours of training. Thus, achievements were obtained in two moments:

  • 45 young women certified in two groups (one formed in La Pola and one in the Educational Institution La Avanzada) and whose training was 90 hours long.
  • 20 young women from La Pola formed a second group, in a training that included 32 hours of training.

In the second phase, in 2019, the objective was that 100 women between the ages of 14 and 25 develop skills in female empowerment, acquiring skills in office tools, editing and creation of multimedia content, soft skills and leadership with a gender approach using digital tools through a 60h bootcamp of training using the methodology of learning by doing and 20 hours of complementary events, obtaining the following achievements:

  • 102 certified young women.
  • The development of a “Fair of opportunities” in which the beneficiaries received information on cultural, academic and entrepreneurship programming in the Aburra Valley.
  • A “Rol model” event was held in which the beneficiaries met different testimonies of successful women of different age ranges, that work in different areas of technology, to promote the inclusion of technology in the young women life projects.

Principles for digital development related to the project

ONE, DESIGN WITH THE USER
We incorporate co-creation processes to plan activities in a pertinent way, seeking to generate the greatest possible value in the target audience.

TWO, UNDERSTAND THE ECOSYSTEM
We carry out diagnoses to identify individual and collective situations, and we carry out events that involve different regional actors to enhance project actions.

SEVEN, REUSE AND IMPROVE
We constantly map opportunities to improve and expand the scope of the project, carrying out evaluations and self-evaluations to learn from previous executions and adjust our contents according to the needs of the beneficiaries and the new objectives.

EIGTH, ADDRESS PRIVACY AND SECURITY
By benefiting the vulnerable population in the project, we ensure that we have the authorizations requiered to make correct use of the information, respecting the different restrictions and requesting the respective authorizations for the use of image and habeas data.

NINE, BE COLLABORATIVE
The project is developed collaboratively between the different institutions that carry out the activities. Furthermore, it seeks to include local groups and organizations in each event that, with their offers, give value to the beneficiaries.