ITU urges girls in ICT to seek smart careers

Stories by Etta Michael Bisong
Abuja

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has charged women during this year’s Girls in ICT Day to seek smart careers in ICT development to enhance their socio-economic welfare.

The Girls in ICT Day is an annual awareness-raising initiative designed to promote technology careers and studies to a new generation of girls and young women with an interest in becoming ICT creators.

ITU in a statement said member states, including Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Gambia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Serbia, Venezuela and Zambia, along with ITU sector members Cisco, Ericsson, Intel, Microsoft, GSMA, and Telecentre.org, and NGOs from every region of the world are among the organisers that have already reached out to girls and young women worldwide this year.

ITU saluted the hundreds of organisers and thousands of girls and young women taking part in this global movement, including ITU Member States and private sector members, and schools, universities and NGOs around the world who celebrated International Girls in ICT Day 2014.

“ICTs are improving the lives of people everywhere, through better healthcare, better education, better environmental management, better communications and better governance,” said ITU Secretary-General Dr HamadounTouré.

He encouraged girls around the world, to “pursue smart careers – careers where you make the very best of technology to help improve the lives of others.”
International ‘Girls in ICT Day’ has rapidly grown into a global movement, with thousands of events organised in over 140 countries since its inception in 2010.