Remember the Brain Squad girls that represented Nigeria and Africa in Silicon Valley?
This was a team of five 10 and 11 years olds that pitched their app – Hands Out – at the 2019 Technovation Challenge and won the several rounds of competition to become the only African team to make it to the global platform at Silicon Valley, California.
Since 2010, Technovation invites teams of girls from all over the world to learn and apply the skills needed to solve real-world problems through technology. TechnovationGirls is a free technology-based program for girls ages 10 – 18. Some of the problems that were tackled in 2019 include domestic violence, rape, climate change, bullying amongst others.
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Girls work in teams of 1 to 5 to find a problem in their local and global communities and build a mobile app to address the problem and solve it. Along the way, the girls develop their computer science, entrepreneurship, collaboration, problem-solving, and business leadership skills,
Girls do not need to have learnt how to code but will use the curriculum to learn how to code and solve their chosen problem through the creation of an app. Technovation Girls will take 30+ hours to complete (we recommend about 12 weeks to finish).
Eligibility
To join the competition, a girl must create or join a team on the online platform, have a parent/guardian sign the consent form and meet the following Student Participation criteria:
- Girls must be curious, creative and determined to change the world using technology
- All students must be between the ages of 10 to 18 as of August 1, 2020.
- All students must identify as female. No males can enter the competition.
- Teams are composed of 1 to 5 students. Students can only join 1 team.
- Competition Divisions are based on the age of the oldest student on the team.
- No previous tech experience is required.
- Students can participate in Technovation Girls for multiple seasons until they reach the age of 18.
- Students can work with the same team members and mentors, but they cannot submit the same competition materials over multiple years.
- Teams can explore the same problem, but the app prototype must be different each year.
Timeline:
January 14, 2020: Official Start of 2020 Season
March 16, 2020: Last Day to Register as a student or mentor
March 23, 2020: Judge registration opens for volunteers who’d like to help choose the winners of our competition
April 20, 2020: Competition Submission Deadline
Mid-April – Mid-May, 2020: Regional Pitch Events & Online Judging
Early June 2020: Semifinal Online Judging
August 2020: Technovation Global Summit
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Observed Impact
After the program, girls usually express greater interest in technology and leadership and more than half of the alumni enroll in computer science courses. They also go on to start their own business, meet world leaders, present their apps at prestigious events and support the next cohorts of Technovation girls
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Source:
Technovationchallenge
Featured Image Source: Opportunities for Africa
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