Proswrites Foundation has collaborated with US-GH Alumni Association, Youth Technology Corps, and other partners to provide 30 women and girls with digital tools and skills through the Empowered to Lead Gender, Inclusion and Resilient Leadership (G.I.R.L) Project.

Other partners include American Corner, Mobile Web Ghana, Project Management Institute-Ghana, For the Future of Ghana and individual facilitators including the 2022 Community Engagement Exchange Fellow Alumni', Prosper Tornyi - Ghana and his team at Proswrites Foundation.

The President of the US-GH Alumni Association, Mr. Johannes Thomas Arthur during the closing ceremony, took the opportunity to encourage the participants to make use of the skills and knowledge gained during the project.

Given that there is progress in promoting women’s participation in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics, workshops like the Empowered to Lead are to boost their confidence, create a platform for networking, and find their path thus making the best of the experience.

He also said through Proswrites Foundation and American Corner, participants can take advantage of the info sessions that support opportunities for higher education, networking, and skills advancement.

The Founder and Executive Director of Proswrites Foundation, Prosper Tornyi, a 2022 Alumni of the Community Engagement Exchange programme recounted the vision of the organisation to close the gender gap by achieving the SDGs: Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 8 (Decent work and Economic Growth), and Goal 17 (Partnership for the Goals) with projects such as the Empowered to Lead G.I.R.L to inspire, equip and support women and youth.

Through this project with the support of Youth Technology Corps, 5 laptops were officially presented to the participants from the Aveyime Battor Senior High Technical School, located in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region towards their digital and ICT skills enhancement.

About the Programme and Participants

These are young women between the ages 16 - 27 from community high school - Aveyime Battor Senior High Technical School (ABAST), University of Ghana, Akatsi training college, Alumni of high schools and Tertiary institutions to participate in the Empowered to Lead G.I.R.L (Gender, Inclusion, & Resilient Leadership) project to gain 21st-century digital literacy and leadership skills which spanned 10-weeks of virtual sessions.

Gender Inclusion in Ghana's Education has grown steadily in the past and present through government intervention programs to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Education.

The gender gap is around 8% for every girl to get access to resources and networks to promote their interest in digital, STEM, and leadership careers.

Significant impact usually occurs when civil society organizations collaborate with public and private institutions to accelerate outcomes.

At the closing ceremony, there was an interactive talk on creativity on the go: how to get ahead as a leader which was facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Kwabena Yeboah, Creative Lead – Kae Kwabena.

There was a breakout session focused on preparing the participants with presentation skills as they shared their meeting outcomes on topics such as Communication skills, branding, social media, community engagement skills, and networking skills.

The Empowered to Lead Gender, Inclusion, and Resilient Leadership (G.I.R.L.) Fellows of the program will have to emulate the peer-to-peer mentoring model of the project, which will take place between the big sisters (tertiary participants) and the younger sisters ( high school participants) as their post-program activity and monthly check-in workshops to be activated to keep the knowledge sharing ongoing.

The closing ceremony took place in Accra, Ghana, at the American Corner, Agbogba, on Saturday, June 17, 2023, with the  ABAST student coordinators of the school in attendance.

Special thanks to the facilitators, Lily Edinam Botsyoe – IT Graduate Student, University of Cincinnati, Kezia Asiedua Sanie – Founder & President, For Future Ghana, Odamea Amoako – Digital Consultant and Law Student, Ing. Mrs Regina Odoom, Volta Alumni Company, Liana Tamakloe-Ekuadzi, Program Manager at MEST Africa, Patricia Dzifa Mensah-Lakai – Founder of Perissos Horizon, Lilipearl Baaba Otoo, Founder of Bridge for equity, and Shomy Hasan Chowdhury, Founder of Awareness 360 – Bangladeshi and Diana Award Winner for making this project impactful with their resources and expertise.