Meet the STEM Motivator: Championing Girls for Greatness!

My name is Elizbeth Mutua. I am passionate about mentoring and supporting young girls at the primary and secondary school levels who are growing up within resource constrained environments. In February 2023, during the International day for Women and Girls in Science, I facilitated an event to speak and motivate girls on breaking barriers for girls in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) held at the Faith Premier High School in Juja, Kenya.

A Rural , Young Tech trainer talking to students at Faith Premier School about STEM opportunities on International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023; Image Courtesy Elizabeth Mutua

I went to a remote high school in Makueni County, which had a single computer lab with six computers. Many girls in the school stayed away from computer studies due to a widely held belief that the subject was only for bright students. The school had one male teacher who taught us programming using pascal programming language, a tedious programming language, and we used floppy disks which could store only limited data and were quite fragile. The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination required us to develop software and it was difficult especially because the computers were very slow and the disks frequently failed. Despite these challenges, I developed my first software, a dairy management system as a project requirement for the KCSE examination.

Due to these challenges, I developed a desire to pursue computer science for my degree with a view to becoming a software developer, and therefore an inventor of better systems, applications, and devices. I also made a deliberate decision to focus on rural villages and slums where I could mentor disadvantaged girls who have a passion for computing and sciences.

Girls from rural areas and informal settlements usually spend most of their time helping out their parents in various chores around the home. And due to their families’ financial constraints they have little or no time and exposure for career talks, career mentorship or access to academic opportunities. If not mentored in the right way, their dream in STEM is choked by the many hurdle sand eventually dies.

The Mawazo Institute is at the forefront in advancing and supporting initiatives and programs that support women and girls in their careers and education. Mawazo enabled me to complete my PhD, an achievement that has challenged me enough to believe that I can hold the hand of a girl and be her mentor. That was the motivation for the Rural Young Tech program. To right the misconception that STEM is for only men, we need as many women as possible to support, mentor, supervise and teach STEM courses. That is why I founded software developing company, the Joasher Technologies and Consultancy, together with the Rural Young Tech program in June 2016

Elizabeth Mutua talking to a captive audience about her mentorship programme at the British High Commission Residence on International Women’s Day March 8th 2023; Image Courtesy Mawazo Institute

Girls from Faith Premier High School and a Rural Young Tech trainer pose in front of a promotional poster; Image Courtesy of Elizabeth Mutua

Rural Young Tech brings together lecturers to teach girls from rural areas and informal settlements basic computer applications, web and software development for free. The program runs over the weekend and when schools close. Girls who graduate from the program and pass well become mentors to their juniors and are assigned client projects. Our clients projects are assigned a group of 4 full time employees with three intern girls who learn as development is going on. Part of the money from the projects is used to pay school fees for the girls at their primary and secondary schools. This has made it possible for many girls to learn computing skills at a young age. 5 girls attend international academic conferences. Additionally, sponsor all the girls to locally organized academic conferences.

The next step for Rural Young Tech is even more ambitious and seeks to meet two key needs within the program. Schooling over the weekend and during school holidays is not adequate time; we require to have centers where the girls who are day scholars can walk in and study. But halls for such activities are only hired over the weekend and once a month over the holidays. This becomes a challenge as the students lack space where they can do their homework and assignments which we give them during the classes.

We also realized that some girls get pregnant while in primary or secondary school. Most learning institutions in Kenya do not allow the girls back and continue learning after having the baby. We need to establish learning centers where we can run the program as well as support these girls to complete their primary and high school education. For this reason, we are in the midst of building the first of many centers in rural areas across the country, where learning computing skills as well as continuing with both primary and secondary education will proceed simultaneously.

We already have a sponsor who has supported us in purchasing a one-acre piece of land in Kibwezi and we are now seeking sponsorship to build the center. In the next 5 years, we seek to establish five centers across different counties in Kenya after which we will move to other countries in Africa. We are also looking for sponsorship to increase the number of girls who attend international conferences each year. By building the five centers in rural areas, resources will be much more accessible and will offset the brain drain that happens when rural dwellers head to the cities for jobs and education.

The girls who attended the workshop on International Women and Girls in Science Day pose in front of a banner from Joasher Technologies & Consultancy; Image Courtesy of Elizabeth Mutua

If you would like to help support the work of Rural Young Tech, and help encourage other disadvantaged girls to get into STEM fields, please contact us at :joashertechnologies@gmail.com;Joasher Technologies & Consultancy, P. O BOX 10315-00100GPO, +254 782 448 796 or +254 727 448 796.