Women Shifting the Technology Landscape in Africa
Watch the event recording here!
The Liu Institute Network for Africa (LINA) and the Collective for Gender+ in Research are happy to announce the second episode of an ongoing webinar series titled African Women’s Leadership: Resilience, Intelligence, and the Bedrock of Development. In line with the growing impetus for gender equity today, this series highlights women’s historical and contemporary achievements across the world and examines some of the prevailing challenges that require intensified investments in change to empower women.
The second installment is titled ‘Women Shifting the Technology Landscape in Africa’ and provides a forum to discuss gender equity and the role of women in Africa’s technology development agenda. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the digital divide on the continent, particularly in light of the swift and unequal transition to online modes of communication, learning, and information access. The speakers will highlight the ethos of enhancing diversity, representation, and inclusion within the technology space, and how they are leveraging technology for social justice and human rights activism. This session will serve as a platform to celebrate the achievements and contributions of African women in the technology sector and will also highlight and celebrate the work of change-makers at the forefront of empowering young female leaders and global change agents in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
Meet the speakers:
Amanda Obidike
Amanda Obidike is a multi-award-winning social innovator, technologist, and data scientist. She is the Executive Director of STEMi Makers Africa. In this role, she provides leadership, strategy management and oversees the design and implementation of sustainable community projects and STEM education across 19 Sub-Saharan countries. Her goal is to prepare the next generation of Africans with STEM-lucrative skills for Africa’s workforce. In addition to data science, Amanda addresses thematic topics on social innovation, youth development, entrepreneurship, and reform in the education curriculum.
Amanda has won numerous accolades for her work. Forbes Science recently marked her as the African changing the culture fabric for young talent to embrace opportunities in STEM. In 2021, she became a Global 20 Goldman Sachs Fellowship Winner and claimed the UK’s foremost award, the FDM EverWoman in Technology award in honor of technology built for good.
She currently serves as a mentor in the New York Academy of Science and the Cherie Blair Foundation, among other communities where she lends her voice, knowledge, and lived expertise to empower girls in Africa.
Angela Oduor Lungati
Angela Oduor Lungati is a technologist, community builder and open-source software advocate who is passionate about building and using appropriate technology tools to create an impact in the lives of marginalized groups. She has over 10 years of experience in software development, global community engagement, and non-profit organizational management.
She currently serves as the Executive Director at Ushahidi, a global non-profit technology company that helps communities quickly collect and share information to raise voices, inform decisions and influence change. She previously served as the Director of Community Engagement, creating and managing programs for Ushahidi’s diverse global community.
She is also a co-founder of AkiraChix, a non-profit organization that nurtures generations of women who use technology to develop innovations and solutions for Africa.
Ethel Cofie
Named one of the Top 5 Women impacting IT in Africa, Ethel Cofie is the CEO and Founder of EDEL Technology Consulting, an IT Consulting and Digital Products Company in West Africa and Europe who was recently named IT Consulting Firm of the year by the Telecoms and IT Industry.
She is also Founder of Women in Tech Africa , Africa’s largest women in tech group with members in over 30 Africa countries and physical chapter in Ghana, Kenya and London and growing.
She is Mandela Fellow for President Obama’s Young African Leaders initiative (YALI) and a High caliber IT Professional with a wealth of technical and commercial skills acquired across a wide range of demanding roles and Over 12 years’ experience working in the UK, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone on projects for organizations like Bill and Melinda Gates Mobile Technology for Health project, the Ford Foundation’s Election Monitoring project for Nigeria and as Head of Commercial Solutions for Vodafone conceptualizing, executing and working with teams to align Corporate strategy to IT strategy and to develop and manage creative technology solutions,
She has been featured in BBC and CNN for work in technology and women leadership
She also sits on numerous boards of numerous companies in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa and has ambitions to grow EDEL Technology Consulting to the whole of Africa.
Meet the moderator:
Esther Ocheni
Esther Ocheni is an aspiring policymaker from Nigeria. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a focus on Development and a minor in the French Language from American University, Washington, DC. Before relocating to Canada, she worked at the Development Bank of Nigeria where her passion for poverty alleviation through access to affordable financing was ignited. After recently acquiring a Masters in Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC, she currently works for the United Nations Development Programme.
Featuring entertainment from:
Abena Green is a poet, writer, and dancer who seeks to create, engage, and elevate through words and movement. She is the author of “The Way We Hold On” (Pottersfield Press 2018) and Ode to the Unpraised (Pottersfield Press, 2020).
A first-generation Canadian, Abena grew up in Nova Scotia and writes on culture, family, environment, wellness, and personal growth .
She has shared her poetry in Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda and in several Canadian locales. Her submission, “The Art of Living” won the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia’s 2016 Atlantic Writing Competition.
Abena believes honest stories build bridges and break walls. She enjoys coaching individuals and groups to produce writing that is clear and compelling. She is the founder of Tambourine Studio, a storytelling and movement studio.