code like her

DSC06968.jpg
 
 

Code like her

Nepal

Partners Kina and Code Rush

The Situation

Females in Nepal make up a very few percentages in the IT and technology sector with just over a quarter of these roles being occupied by females. The major reason is gender stereotypes, a male dominant society, and a lack of female role models for the new generation of enthusiastic females. Surveys show that even females involved in the tech-sector suffer from self-doubt, low confidence, and lack of belonging in the technical industry.

The Challenge

Overcoming the stereotypes:

  • It’s a waste of money for the parents, better spend it on their wedding.

  • Women are not capable of learning the complexities of software development.

  • Women cannot take the pressure of working alongside men in the STEM profession. 

Nepal’s education system is also faulty as the students are not taught the skills the industry is looking for. Companies often have a hard time looking for skilled and qualified employees.

The Result 

Since the success of the training program is directly proportional to the quality of knowledge they receive from the trainer, there was a total of 4 trainers, each having more than 5 years of experience in the related industry which made the fellowship one of its kind.

As the fellowship is online, Zoom was used to conduct the daily classes. Slack was used as a communication tool between fellows and mentors. Google Drive and Google forms were widely used by both fellows and the management team.  The google forms assisting in collecting feedback from fellows as well as mentors, to improve the program for future fellowships.  

CEF partnered with Kina and Code Rush and launched Code Like Her, a software development training program empowering young women in Nepal. Aiming to boost employment in STEM professions, this initiative provided full-stack development training in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and ReactJS. The fellowship successfully trained 12 students in 2020 and 15 in 2021.

To address the crisis in the software industry, Code Rush along with Kina, and with funding from CEF, first began with software development training for women in 2019. Seeing the need and the great interest from women, the program zeroed in on trainers with a working history in the relative industries, shaping the one of a kind fellowship that is now Code like Her. 

CEF’s funding impact is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. And UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.