ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication ((MITT) has been placed in top five nominations for international Equals in Tech Awards for its information and communications technology (ICT) project for girls.
The awards committee had accepted 293 nominations from 72 countries, however, after the process of evaluation, a panel of 15 finalists have been selected from the categories of Access, Skills and Leadership.
The awards would be held from December 19 to 20 in Geneva with the aim to support gender equality in the ICT field and advancing the role of women as decision-makers.
Talking to media persons, MITT spokesperson said that the Universal Service Fund (USF) is running ICT programmes for girls with the purpose to empower women and girls through information and communication education to uplift the digital literacy of girls in the country.
The programme also aimed to train young girls from marginalised segments of the society and arm them with IT skills to bridge gender digital divide and to build the financial capacity for girls across the country, he added.
He further said that this programme comprised of 4 Cs, including computing, coding, communication and coaching, while adding that thousands of girls were being trained by Microsoft certified trainers across the country which would help them earn respectable livelihoods by being able to work from their homes.
The ICT for girls programme is helping with the intellectual growth and ultimately the financial independence of women in the country.
The Equals in Tech Awards (formerly the GEM-TECH Awards) is an annual initiative designed to promote gender equality and mainstreaming in technology.
The awards are now part of Equals, United Nations Women and an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) global partnership to achieve gender equality in the digital age.
The awards would also showcase how ICTs could be used to dramatically improve social, political and economic outcomes for women and girls.
