Facilitating Digital Changemaking in my community.

\"Building a culture of mentorship and peer education to strengthen volunteerism\"

6 years ago I had a vision to close the gender tech gap in Cameroon and sought training to facilitate workshops and programs for girls. I now recognize that I need more of me if this vision is to have a meaningful and quick impact. My vision is to provide hands-on basic programming and digital skills to school girls who do not have the opportunity to get access to 21st technology training platforms and also attach them to mentors in our community. Mentors will be able to engage these girls and nurture their developmentthrough creative based projects.

Last week after a very inspiring Skype call with my vision mentor that kept my dream alive, I started planning a workshop to train other women in my local community to help me accomplish my vision! I had one week of reflections to make discussions on some important issues such as the number of women to attend, where to hold the meeting and the duration.

I looked back at my resources and assets map, this was a great starting point. Many thoughts came to my mind about the kind of training and a relevant topic that I could present. Very early on Saturday morning after meditation an idea came to me about motivating women to build the spirit of mentoringin my community. It has always been challenging for me to get professional women to serve as mentors for girls in my local community. I found it very important that we tackle this issue that we face together. So I decided on this specific theme for my presentation:

“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle”.

The purpose was to convey a sense of need and also to inspire and empower them to grow and emerge as leaders and later on transform in to role models.It aimed to encourage mentorship which is not practiced efficiently in Cameroon.I recognize the hardship and the struggle for young women to emerge as leaders without the help of mentors.

I chose 8of my friends, who are professionals with diverse back grounds that I could lead through digital empowerment. Later on I prepared a Power Point presentation of 15 slides to guide me through the meeting, as well as an agenda. Gradually the plan was getting set. It would be a 1 hour meeting at my home at 4 pm on March 2.

I chose to hold the training at my home so as to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere to encourage sisterhood. The meeting was purposefully kept informal so as to build team spirit and confidence amongthe women.

Feeling very excited, I sent out invitations to the women about the event. Finally, it was the meeting day! The meeting began at 5 pm during which I shared my passions, vision and knowledge with these women. I was happy when they all realized and understood how relevant it was for them to take action in guiding and coaching our girls. At the close of the meeting, I realized that these women were potential female mentors and they will later on be part of my project. I selected women who have succeeded in their career and that the girls can look up to as role models.

Practicing the empowering role of a mentor for other women made me to have a better understanding of the subject matter and deepen my leadership abilities.

Growing up my dream is a constant struggle. It was challenging to get the women to understand thatmentoring could be a voluntary service. They all expected that it required some compensation.

Sharing our challenges enabled us to seek practical and applicable solutions together. The ladies were very enthusiastic to lead change in our community by accepting to collaborate with me on my future projects, by accepting to offer vital insights and inspiration to girls.

I look forward to hold similar and more powerful meetings with the Techwomen Alumni in Cameroon to encourage women to lead change and builda dynamic network of professional female mentors that our girls will look up to.. #Mentors4Change

The future mentors who attended the workshop:

Mary Azenwi, Biology Teacher, 42

Nkalla Lydia, Maths Teacher, 40

Ndong Susan, Computer Teacher, 43

Ngum Vivian, Business woman, 48

Bih Tumasang, Entrepreneurship Teacher, 46

Tamambang Regina, Chemistry Teacher, 45

Lum Marie, Agricultural Technician, 45

Lum Edith, Chemistry Teacher, 32

How to Get Involved

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You can help us reach our goal to train as many girls as possible in software development in Bamenda. Pledge your voice for girl child education in Cameroon, today by donating. Small drops make an ocean! Thanks.