In collaboration with the Continuing Education Institute at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB), “Al-Ajyal Foundation for Technological Empowerment” organized a workshop titled, “Technology Makers: Towards an Innovative Generation,” for the training of 30 girls between the ages of 13 and 18 on programming, three-dimensional design, and relevant technical skills. AUIB campus hosted the workshop that culminated in a graduation ceremony where the participants were awarded certificates.
Programming skills are at the heart of a skill set in demand not only in the Information and Communications Technology sector, but also in industry, administration, and services; and this demand for programming skills is steadily increasing with the accelerating transition, in various sectors, to AI-powered automation. Hence the importance of this training workshop, especially as a very modest percentage of young girls work in programming, around 22% of the total workforce in this sector, according to the founder and CEO of “Al-Ajyal Foundation,” Mr. Ali Al-Zubaidi, who was the trainer at the workshop. The Foundation chose the workshop’s theme after surveying the needs of a number of startup companies in the sector, and thence focused the workshop’s program on developing programming as well as teamwork skills, said Mr. Al-Zubaidi. The participant girls’ work yielded projects that they proudly presented at the graduation ceremony, including educational digital games of their own design, a program to operate drones and employ them in forest maintenance, and other innovative projects.