The Association of South African Women in Science and Engineering (SA WISE) is a dynamic association for all those who support the idea of strengthening the role of women in science and engineering in South Africa.

SA WISE aims to strengthen this role by inter alia:

• raising the profile of women scientists and engineers
• highlighting and addressing problems faced specifically by women in these fields
• lobbying for the advancement of women in science and engineering
• providing leadership and role models for young people wishing to enter the fields of science and engineering

An important function of SA WISE is to improve communication among women scientists and engineers, with e-mail being the preferred medium of communication. Members are encouraged to send ideas and information to SA WISE. SA WISE also maintains contact with other assocations of women in science and engineering world-wide

'Spark for Women' project strives to create a positive impact on society by providing free Cisco IT Essentials trainings to disadvantaged women in a spirit of volunteerism.

The program is run on a volunteer basis, where voluntary IT trainers train local women through a series of professional training to prepare them for the workforce.  During one intensive week, participants attend 75 hours of IT instruction through the Networking Academy IT Essentials course, resume building and interview techniques given by professionals in top HR companies, and legal training and civil rights delivered by accredited lawyers. Through this model, the Project not only empowers women’s participation in IT education and soft-skills training, but it also increases the possibility of getting and maintaining a job in the business world, therefore helping them achieve economic independence and become more conscious of their rights and roles within society. To complete the full cycle, graduates from the program are encouraged in turn to become volunteer trainers and share their new-found knowledge with more women.

Since its launch in November, 158 women have completed the program and have gone on to become Cisco certified in IT Essentials!

For more information about Spark for Women, including volunteer opportunities, please visit http://www.sparkforwomen.org/

Aims to support and study educational initiatives that improve students‘ and teachers‘ awareness, expertise, and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and information and communications technology (ICT) careers. ITEST is unique in that it provides a supporting architecture for grassroots initiatives, but does not run the initiatives itself. Instead, its role is focused on finding, supporting, and evaluating initiatives in order to identify effective practices and to encourage wider dissemination and adoption of those practices.

Organisation that puts girls in contact with women working in technology, offering workshops and other technology-related events such as hackathons.

Systers claims to be the world’s largest email community of technical women in computing. It was founded by Anita Borg in 1987 as a small electronic mailing list for women in “systems”. Today, Systers broadly promotes the interests of women in the computing and technology fields.

It is a female entrepreneurship program to help Tanzanian women with instructions on using ICTs, developing and managing their businesses.

Promote positive role models to encourage and raise awareness of information technology careers for girls.

Hosts tech parties for women in the tech sector, in tech education, or who are learning tech in the UK.  They also have a variety of online resources.

Techbridge inspires girls to discover a passion for technology, science and engineering, empowering our future innovators and leaders. Through hands-on activities, role models and worksite visits, family outreach, and teacher development, Techbridge builds a strong network of support for girls to expand their career options, instill confidence and diversify our future workforce.

Techsploration is a program designed to provide young women with opportunities to explore trades, technical and technology-related occupations, while creating an awareness about the critical role of work in their lives. It also helps them understand the significance of high school math and science to their future careers. This site focuses on skills training.

TechWomen is an initiative of the US State Department that pairs women in Silicon Valley with their counterparts in the Middle East and North Africa to create exchange programs at leading technology companies. Using innovative technologies, cutting-edge content, and social networking tools, TechWomen fosters and develops the next generation of women leaders in the technology field by providing women and girls with the access and opportunity needed to pursue tech-based careers.

Telecentre Women, in partnership with ITU will extend access to basic ICT training to more than one million disadvantaged women worldwide. The new Women’s Digital Literacy Campaign will leverage the combined reach of Telecentre.org Foundation’s global network of 100,000 telecentres worldwide and ITU’s 192 Member States and 700 Sector Members to deliver training in ICT use following a ‘train the trainer’ model.

Between now and end 2012, training courses will be offered in at least 20,000 telecentres in countries around the world, each of which is expected to train at least 50 women – for a total of one million women trained.

In addition, ITU will contribute a number of curricula developed by its Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), notably from its Connect a School, Connect a Community initiative, as well as offering its ITU Academy distance learning platform for training purposes.

At the helm of the campaign is telecentre.org, a global program that supports the establishment and sustainability of grassroots level telecentres towards a vision of opening up “digital opportunities for poverty alleviation at the grassroots”. Powered by over 300 organizations, 100,000 grassroots telecentres and over 200,000 individuals with direct stakes in the telecentre movement, telecentre.org originated and drives the Telecentre Women: Digital Literacy Campaign which will:

• bring together a corps of accomplished women from the academic-corporate ICT sector to serve as mentors, tutors, and ambassadors teaching and inspiring telecentre women towards achieving digital literacy and making it work for them.
• motivate the global population of community women to embrace the telecentre movement as workers, associates and potential grassroot users, and acquiring digital literacy in the process.
• recognize the achievements and the swelling ranks of thousands of grassroots telecentre women for the tremendous positive impact they have generated on the lives of other women thru a global search for the Outstanding Telecentre Women Managers.
• stimulate and bring together support and participation of telecentres and networks for the campaign from all over the world, reinforcing them with resource mobilization for fund generation as well as content and curriculum packages for digital and eBusiness skills for community women.
• enlist private and public sector partners, international agencies and local stakeholders demonstrate the role of telecentres in empowering communities in line with the UN standards set by the Millennium Development Goals.

The Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN) launches STAR 1 to enable girls and young women to use computer technology to better their lives.

First partners are the Raspberry Pi Foundation, International Education Association, Aramex and Ruwwad for Development Founder Fadi Ghandour, and Wireless Wings

26 April, International Girls in ICT Day: The GTWN, a senior executive network dedicated to the “Changing Culture of Communications…from Generation to Generation” announced today that they have launched STAR 1 -- a public/private partnership designed to help girls use computer technology to better their lives.

The STAR 1 project is a comprehensive program delivering a full scalable and replicable package consisting of affordable computers for children, a train-the-trainer ICT education program for computer programming, and a private/public-funding model.

http://www.gtwn.org/star1/

Ubuntu-Women is a team functioning under Ubuntu to provide a platform and encouragement for women to contribute to Ubuntu-Linux, a Debian based free and open-source GNU/Linux software. Our main role will be along the lines of supplementing and being the stepping stone toward the larger Ubuntu-Linux world. Membership is open to all.