Women Coders of Sintra
Portugal AKF is supporting young women to
break down gender stereotypes in the world of tech through Bytes4 Future, which is a free digital skills training school. The program was established by the Aga Khan Foundation in partnership with Sintra City Council and RunCodeSchool.
Bytes4Future was created in December 2020 to respond to social vulnerabilities in the area by enhancing the digital programming skills of young people who are unemployed. The program is not limited to just teaching hard skills such as coding, but instead expands opportunities to improve English language
Engaging Tech to Improve Data Informed Decision Making
Around three million households in Bihar, India, raise goats. They do so because goat rearing is an activity does not require substantial land, a critical factor given 96% of these households are landless. Goat rearing provides supplementary income for many; but such income has been limited because women – who are largely responsible for raising the goats – have often lacked access to veterinary services and a limited knowledge of animal husbandry practices, management, and marketing.
To address this issue, the Aga Khan Foundation joined with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to train women as animal health workers (pashu sakhis, in Hindi), to provide preventive health services to goats. Each pashu sakhis is provided with a tablet, whose interface functions both in Hindi and in English.
A custom-build data collection app allows for the pashu sakhis to enter data about the person raising the goat, what service was was provided, and how must was charged. AKF reviews the data for validation and quality assurance. Data analytics provides insight into
skills, use of multi-media, and receive support
while applying for jobs. The program has, to date, graduated 166 learners (40 of whom are women).
the number and types of services were delivered, as well as profits made.
Since 2016, AKF has trained over 350 pashu sakhis in Bihar who provide veterinary services to over 70,000 women raising goats.
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