SmartGirlz in ICT 2023
Launched 8 February 2023 with support from UNICEF Tanzania, alongside the ICT Commission and COSTECH, this edition ran under the ITU theme: “Digital skills for life” — with the design challenge: “How can we help young people in Tanzania acquire digital skills?”
Letters of invitation went out from 30 January to 3 February 2023 to 17 schools; 12 confirmed participation, including Oysterbay, Kisutu Girls High, Salma Kikwete, Mikocheni, Magomeni, Jangwani, Africana, Kijitonyama, Makongo, Feza Girls', Kawe Ukwamani and Alpha High Secondary Schools.
33 trainers were recruited, including backup facilitators, and completed a two-week Human-Centered Design (HCD) training before two trainers were allocated to each school to run the program.
Programme Phases — 2023
How the year unfolded, from HCD training through to MVP building.
HCD Training
Idea generation, prototyping, pitching, and in-school exhibitions & competitions.
Coding & MVP Building
Turning selected prototypes into working products (MVPs).
How Phase 1 Unfolded
Programme Launch
Students introduced to Innovation and Human-Centered Design, alongside familiarization with trainers.
Team Formulation
Teams of 5–6 students formed, deliberately mixed across classes for diversity.
Theme Introduction
Students introduced to the ITU challenge: "How can we help young people in Tanzania acquire digital skills?"
Idea Prototyping & Pitching
Paper-based and storyboard prototypes built, with pitch training.
Technical Training
Introduction to web programming and mobile app development.
In-School Competitions
Teams pitched ideas in 10 minutes to judges; top 3 teams per school advanced.
Prototype Implementation
Selected teams built out prototypes using HTML, CSS and Bootstrap.
Competition Day
Held on 15 April 2023 with over 250 attendees. Dr. Mercy Mbise, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the College of ICT, opened the day, followed by student exhibitions and an awards ceremony.
Guests included the ICT Commission, UNICEF, UCSAF and COSTECH. A six-member judging panel selected the winning teams.
2023 Judging Panel
A six-member panel with diverse skills evaluated every team's idea and prototype.
UNICEF
UNICEF
UDSM-CoICT — Lecturer
UNCDF
UDSM-CoICT
UDSM-CoICT — Lecturer
2023 Winners
Conclusion
SmartGirlz in ICT 2023 impacted over 200 students across Dar es Salaam from 12 different secondary schools. Most students surveyed enjoyed the program, with the main request being more time for training.
Photos
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