IWD – Techrity Blog

IWD2023: How I Embrace Equity in my Community by Glory Wejinya

Background

EmbraceEquity Article Contest Instructions

As part of the celebration of IWD2023, Techrity marked IWD by calling for an #EmbraceEquity Article Story Contest. The winner would go home with N50,000 in USDT and their story will be published on the Techrity Blog.

The capstone event held on the 3rd April 2023 on Twitter Space, with speakers; Faith Pueneh and Uduak Obong Eren. Listen to IWD2023 DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality recording.

Speaker for Techrity IWD2023 Event on Twitter Space

Glory Wejinya, a content writer and student at the Rivers State University emerged winner amongst 3 entries for the contest.

Here’s her story below;

Glory Wejinya explains in detail how she’s embracing equity in her community and workplace and why equal opportunities are no longer enough.

“Growing up in a community where women were mostly and still referred to as a second option and the last choice, I became motivated to promote gender equity as a person. Although I have been unable to do as much as I intend to do, I have within my resources given my honest opinions on matters that affect women in rural communities and promote inclusivity.

To embrace equity means to embrace diversity, inclusion, and fairness. This involves creating a fair and just society where everyone has equal access to resources and opportunities.

Glory Wejinya

While equal opportunities are essential to achieving a fair and just society, having equal opportunities is not a direct solution to deeply rooted inequality and discrimination . This is mainly because not everyone can have equal access to these opportunities. Poverty and lack of access to quality education can greatly limit anyone’s ability to utilise the given opportunities.

Educating, training and equipping women to be ready to take up available roles is a great way to embrace equity in communities.

In 2022, I embraced equity via my contributions to the Domestic Violence Directory, 2022. Currently garnering over 100 downloads, this directory provides information for victims of domestic violence; identifying several domestic violence centres and responders in the 36 states of Nigeria.

Another way I am able to contribute my quota is by volunteering my time and expertise at Her Dream Initiative; a non-profit organisation that aims to empower girls and women all over the world; exposing females to numerous opportunities available to them, ranging from fellowships, and internships to scholarships. I do this through social media management as the publicity team lead of the organisation; lending my voice as a social media manager, creating content that fits the objectives and goals of the organisation, advocating women’s rights, and giving women their flowers”.

Want to reach out to Glory? Follow her on LinkedIn.

Thank you for reading!

TECHing The Young: Techrity IWD2021 Educational Outreach Program

The impact of educational outreach programs in schools can be felt on the academic, physiological, and psychological traits of the students.

Various barriers prevent many young ones, even the young female, from starting a career in tech at an early age. One of such barriers is the lack of sensitization of an early career start in tech, even as a secondary school student, limited availability of resources and materials for learning, as well as a Mentor, to guide and track progress.

Techrity’s talent development scheme called the Kickstart program is aimed at solving these problems. We embarked on an outreach program tagged: TECHing the Young in various secondary schools in a bid to educate the young ones on the need to start a career in tech at a young age to boycott the unemployment problem faced in Nigeria. The outreach program was embarked on to commemorate the International Women’s Day held on 8th March 2021, and also to sensitize the female gender and educate them on the opportunities for females in technology, this was done as part of our commitment to the UN SDGs 5: Bridging the gap in gender disparity in the tech industry.

The outreach program featured talks centered on careers in tech, the need to start their careers early, as well as showcasing successful young talents in the tech industry such as Opemipo Disu, the 15-year-old developer and IBM champion from Nigeria.

Opemipo Disu aka the 15y.o developer and IBM Champion

Two students who showed great enthusiasm were awarded scholarships to enable them to kickstart their tech journey. Techrity’s Kickstart program includes a laptop, a personal mentor and data support for each child to aid their learning journey.

These students are Prince Onuzulike of Inama International Secondary School, and Chijioke Egbuomuche, a student of the Hybrid International Academy.

Prince Onuzulike is in class 1 in the Junior Secondary category of Inama International Secondary School. Prince is a young lad who almost had a deformed hand from an accident, which is quite noticeable.

From left: Miss Owanate (Founder, Techrity), Mrs. Onuzulike, Prince Onuzulike, and Mr. Adagboyi Joseph (Principal, Inama Intl Sec. Sch.)

Chijioke Egbuomuche is a student of Hybrid International Academy Senior Secondary. He has a flair for creating things which can be seen in the picture below.

Chijioke created a Fan, a Car, and a Dispenser. These things were all made from cartons, D.C motors and batteries. For the fan, he used something like a blade to act as the propeller so an amount of air touches you when it is turned on. The car moves with help of the D.C motor connected to the back tyre under the car. The Dispenser is a manual one, so it had no use for the D.C motor. Chijioke’s creativity and innovation are what earned him the scholarship to further enhance his creative flair and help him digitally.

Chijioke – Winner of Techrity Kickstart Scholarship Award and Owanate

The recipients of Techrity’s Kickstart Program will be given a laptop, a mentor as well as data support, to help guide these young minds to early career exploits in technology. The mentors assigned to these young ones are responsible for their growth and progress in technology.

Few students were also awarded cash prizes for their great performances. These students are David Bob, Emmanuel Ekeh, Prince Onuzulike, all of Inama International Secondary School and Miracle Eboseh of Hybrid International Academy. Some of the students were awarded cash prizes for their ability to answer technical questions, performance in examinations and their quest for knowledge.