The Rockefeller Foundation has partnered with Intel on the latter’s She Will Connect programme at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa taking place in Abuja, Nigeria, as efforts continue to close the digital gender gap.
According to the Women and the Web report, in developing countries 25 per cent fewer women are online than men, and in Sub-Saharan Africa the gap is 43 per cent.
Intel launched the She Will Connect programme to work with an ecosystem of partners to close this gap globally, beginning in Africa, where it is seeking to empower five million women through digital literacy programmes, with initial pilots in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.
Intel’s vice president for the Sales and Marketing Group and general manager of the Intel World Ahead Programme John Davies said: “Technology in general, and the internet in particular, has transformed the lives of billions of people. It opens up opportunities and possibilities that never could have been realised before. But women and girls are being left behind – which is why we are investing alongside other organisations to close the gap through Intel She Will Connect.”
The partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation will seek to connect those trained through the programme to employment opportunities..
“We see great alignment between the Rockefeller Foundation’s Digital Jobs Africa initiative and She Will Connect,” Mamadou Biteye, managing director of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office, said.
“We will work together with Intel to connect high potential but disadvantaged young women in our target African countries to online jobs through tools and training that will provide them with best practice guides to assist them in successfully accessing online jobs, earn an income and build their skills and digital work experience.
“We will seek out more partnerships with pioneering private sector players who have a shared vision around addressing the youth employment challenge.”
Digital Jobs Africa is a Rockefeller Foundation initiative launched in 2013 which aims to impact one million lives by connecting high potential but disadvantaged youth to jobs in the digital economy.
