The winning Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund project by TechWomen 2014 <strong>‘Mombasa Girls in STEM Solve IT’ was launched on Saturday 12 December, on Kenya’s Independence Day at the Swahili Cultural Center in Mombasa.

The project aims to increase Mombasa girls’ interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) based subjects by having women professionals from Mombasa train 150 high school girls on a STEM-based curriculum. This approach will not only help demystify STEM subjects among girls but will also strengthen the capacity of existing female professionals by having them train the students and help them design a project to be presented at a STEM fair at the end of the one year project. At the STEM fair, students will present their designed solution to a community problem in Mombasa with the aim of having local government leaders judge the feasibility of the solutions designed by the girls and consider implementing the winning solution.

Calls for application from women professionals and university students in Mombasa begun in November 2015 and applications were submitted via an online application process.

The launch was graced by guests of honour Mahmoud Noor, Head of CSR at SEACOM and board member of the Mombasa Tech community, Joash Amemba, Tola Software Developer, Mercy Corps and Jamadar Ali, ICT Director, Mombasa County. Among the audience were invited trainer applicants, 2015 Technovation participants from Mombasa and members of tech community in Mombasa.

Mahmoud Noor delivered his keynote address where he spoke on the need to continuously encourage the participation of all youth in activities that develop tech community in Mombasa. Joash Amemba also offered an enlightening talk on innovation opportunities in the humanitarian field and demonstrated the use of Spark Innovation Kits that his organization, Open.Build Hacker Space is facilitating the provision of for the project. Jamadar Ali, spoke briefly on the support he would ensure the county offers to the successful implementation of the project. Debriefs and introductions from the hosts TechWomen Kenya and their local partners Pwani Teknowgalz followed and included the curriculum breakdown.

Project training is all set to begin on January 9^th 2016. Below is a pictorial of the day’s events. Baraka FM also graced the event and an audio tape is available

1.Mahmoud Noor, Head of CSR SEACOM, delivers the keynote address on the vision of the Tech community in Mombasa.

2.Joash Amemba, Open.Build Hacker Space demonstrates the use of innovative kits while on the field

3.Jamadar Ali, Mombasa county ICT director introduces himself while offering his support for a successful project implementation

Presentations From Techwomen Kenya and Pwani Teknowgalz

1.Sandra Kambo, TechWomen Kenya briefs the audience on the TechWomen program and how to be a part of it

2.Umikaltuma Ibrahim, TechWomen Kenya addresses the audience on what to expect from the Mombasa Girls in STEM Solve IT project

3.Ruth Kaveke, Pwani Teknowgalz introduces the Pwani Teknowgalz team and their projects in Mombasa

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Team WOTE, from Sheikh Khalifa high school receive awards for their winning Technovation app ‘Gold in Garbage

Technovation 2015 participants Presents their Mobile Apps</strong>

Maheera (right) and Liz (left), from Aga Khan high school presents their team’s Technovation apps to the audience

The Mombasa Girls In STEM Solve IT launch featured on Radio Baraka Fm Mombasa

The launch event Videos was posted on You Tube, Check links below

Mombasa Girls In STEM Solve IT : Educating to innovate with STEM