The Kaglema Motlanthe Foundation has partnered with Fliptin, Microsoft and Idea Collective to host AI in Mitchells Plain boot camp on the 15th to 17th of March 2019. The boot camp aims to discover the AI possibilities with the youth in celebration of Human Rights Day on the 21st of March 2019. This girl-only boot camp- addresses the exclusion of youth in diverse careers, by offering a platform for new tools acquisition, knowledge and better prospects at female digital inclusion and socio-economic forecast.
This initiative will begin in 2019 and the ‘AI in Africa’ tour will cut across Africa for girls between 15 to 18 years of age in rural areas, with aims to create purposeful and high impact solutions that will solve the issues of unemployment, community safety and education. Sixty girls from Beacon Hill High School, Lentegeur Secondary School, Portland High School, Oval North Secondary School and Westridge High School have been selected to learn the concepts and ethics of digital technology and how to apply it to their lives in order to create solutions for their communities.
The exercise will be for three days and it aims to expose these learners to an environment of cutting-edge technologies, like building computer chatbots, packaging individual tech ideas and solutions, and how to pitch innovations to a panel of judges. Sequel to the success of the ‘of Mitchells Plain’ program with schools in Soweto in 2018, the girls will be mentored by leading professionals and entrepreneurs from technology consultancy Fliptin and facilitated by Idea Collective. In order to deliver a stimulating and challenging series of workshops that will inspire the youth to reach their fullest.
Mrs Gugu Motlanthe, Trustee of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation says, “The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation places the wellbeing of our nation’s youth at the heart of our work with the belief that equipping learners with 21st century skills will help prepare South Africa for the 4th Industrial Revolution and lay the fundamental building blocks to creating an inclusive society.”
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“The Foundation is invested in and committed to creating an environment that boosts access to technology and drives digital literacy – these are the keys to unlocking the potential for our youth to create a positive, connected and inclusive future in the digital age.” She also said
Professor Des Laubscher from IDEA (Innovative Design Education Africa) Collective says, “The IDEA Collective’s core purpose is to improve the quality of people’s lives through proactive problem-solving workshops and the creation of appropriate solutions that take cognizance of social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. What better way to expose our youth to problem-solving than to challenge these young girls to embrace the design thinking process during this workshop and then use what they have learned to create meaningful solutions to problems within their communities. The passion and the creativity of the girls is manifested in the amazing results that emulate from this experience, as we have learnt from the previous workshop.”
Lillian Barnard, Managing Director of Microsoft South Africa comments, “We are proud to be involved with such an initiative that aims to harness the STEM skills young girls need to become problem solvers and build successful careers in these fields. The AI revolution has begun in Africa, and it’s going to empower and enable us to do more than ever before. Approximately 80 percent of jobs created in the next ten years will require a blend of science, technology, engineering and maths, but right now only about 30 percent of the science and technology workforce in Africa is comprised of women – indicating a massive gap that urgently needs to be addressed.”
Mustapha Zaouini, Technology and Innovation at Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation and CEO of Fliptin said, “Connecting the participants with leading thinkers, who position ethical and sustainable learning in the centre of the education process, unlocks the power of technology. Through these bootcamps, we aim to cause a major mind-set change in the girls, which is fused with the tools to implement new ideas leveraging the technology of tomorrow; a potent combination that capacitates a lifelong way of thinking for success.”
Charmaine Lambert, head of WorkInProgress – an Absa innovation lab said, “This is exactly why WorkInProgress exists – we host events like these to encourage, promote and facilitate the kind of learning and collaboration that give rise to new technology-based ideas and developments that can make a real difference in the everyday lives of people.”
Old Mutual CIO, Johnson Idesoh said, “Raising the number of female IT professionals in the country is a vital step towards creating greater gender equality, and promoting a strong and diverse digital foundation,” he says. “Old Mutual is committed to building the skills that will grow our economy, and strengthening future capacity in IT is key.”
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