‘Full STEM Ahead!’ project by Eco-Sol Consulting (Seychelles) , is a finalist for the 2018 Miss.Africa Seed Fund
After a successfull funding and planning, Miss.Africa Digital Program spoke Ms. Malshini Senaratne, the Founder Eco-Sol Consulting (Seychelles) which runs the ‘Full STEM Ahead!’ project for girls. She speaks about their program in our interview below about their experiences durign their training program in 2019
Q1. Highlight your general experience with the Miss.Africa Digital Seed Funding
Overall, I’ve had a very positive experience with the process. The team has been fairly open in terms of communication and support, and very accommodating of the fact that I live and work in a small island state and sometimes struggle with network and communication issues. I would thoroughly recommend the program to others!
Q2. What moment(s) were most challenging through the training
During the training, the most challenging aspect was maintaining a strong and reliable network for the Skype sessions with women working in ICT across the world. We had women speakers lined up from the U.S.A, Zimbabwe and Zambia and we were lucky to successfully manage this session. As a back-up, we had also asked our speakers to send video recordings prior to the training, in case of a technical interruption. We were glad to have thought up this initiative, because our girls enjoyed talking to these inspirational women!
Q3. How did the Miss.Africa Seed Fund enhance Ecosol’s initiatives and activities of supporting girls in STEM?
In many ways, the fund allowed us to expand our initiatives and scope. We were able to invite more participants for this training and thus provide more girls with access to vital skills and knowledge in ICT.
Q4. Give us a successful instance when the Women in STEM flag was flown high.
The training was this year’s highlight, where we were able to bring in 30 school girls with NO experience in website design and see their excitement when they published their first website! This simple act showed the participants the possibilities that awaited them should they take careers in ICT in the future.
Q5. Outline your take on the future of women technology in Africa/Globally? And a message to other girls who would want to venture into ICT Careers.
‘Reach out for the future you deserve.’ This training opened our eyes to the fact that our young girls need all the support they can get when it comes to ICT awareness and skills building. With such initiatives provided by the Fund, it is clear that we are in a position to empower our young women as never before to reach out for the futures they deserve.
Click here to watch on DotAfrica.Tv
Ms. Malshini Senaratne, Full STEM Ahead!’ project, Seychelles
Ms. Senaratne, is the Founder Eco-Sol Consulting which runs the ‘Full STEM Ahead!’ project for girls.
The ‘Full STEM Ahead!’ project aims to give girls the chance to reach for the futures they deserve by providing opportunities for them to explore concepts around STEM. The project builds on an existing volunteer program I launched, where I run a teaching/mentoring program which incorporates STEM from an environmental conservation perspective for school girls.