"THE WOMAN'S ISSUE"
March 2016 Newsletter
Celebrating the End of Women's History Month

"There is nothing like knowing you have a real opportunity to affect the future in a positive way."
--Tisha Johnson 
  
As we conclude the celebration of "Women's Month"  I have never witnessed globally so much voices and platforms that  supported Women.

Personally, I made extra effort to recognize and support women this month, from donating to girl scout cookies to attending various women centered events including hosting visiting mother-daughter team from Kenya in my town, celebrating outings with few women friends, and hailing to every women I encounter on my way, from the grocery store to crossing the street, a Happy Women's month, so as they remember to smile and celebrate their self worth. I also tweeted, circulated articles and quotes by women. 

Sophia Bekele, Founder of
Miss.Africa PanAfrican Foundation
 
My actions are in support of my affirmation of commitment to 2016, a year I themed as "Year of The Women".  Women have become more independent, smart, accomplished, finding the  ir new found roles and using it to push the limits of their opportunity confidently and with a great sense of responsibility, and care.  And let us not forget women are also leading by example.

The world is stirring. The world is awakening to the force
that is a woman.


Policies are being changed and made in favor of women, more female CEOs are being appointed, the representation of women in governments is increasing and the number of girls enrolled in all levels of education is rising each and every day.   
   
Women issues are no longer being discussed in dark corners
and hushed tones


No.  Today, women issues are being trumpeted by governments, activists and women groups in public and in loud voices. This is due to the realization that women contribute a large majority to the development of the world amidst grave challenges and that often, their efforts go unnoticed and unrecognized. This is changing.

Last year, through the recently launched Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), women were recognized.   The world told women, "We acknowledge your effort".   Goal 5 of the SDGs calls on governments to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls, end violence and harmful practices, recognize the unpaid care work that falls disproportionately on women, get more women into leadership positions and ensure women can uphold their reproductive rights.
 
This change however should move past mere policy making to actual implementation. That was the key message of the recently held Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Activists preparing for the Commission said that world leaders should back up their pledge to end gender inequality with concrete commitments on how they plan to empower women. It was realized that crucial to achieving women empowerment goals was the need to support women groups which were seriously underfunded.
 
It is this globally shared belief of economically empowering girls and women, and in a concurrent celebration of this year's Women's History Month, that our pan-African foundation, Miss.Africa Seed Fund lend  financial support up to USD7,000, in a competitive achievement award to those initiatives in Africa that support women in technology.  Announced as a yearly program in July 2015, we received over 90 applications   from all across the Continent all gunning to receive financial grant.
 
As the world awakens to the true power of women, myself and my team at DCA Trust are proud to be heralding the change with our actions.    It is indeed the Year of The Women and what a great start it has been!
  Stories Celebrating Women's History Month 
Activists call on world leaders to make gender equality pledge a reality Read more...
Ventures Africa: These are the top 10 feminist countries in Africa Read More...
Parker + Lynch: Wishing Future CEO's a Happy Women's Month! Read More
5 Reasons Women's History Month Is Important
Read more....
9 Tech Pioneers To Celebrate For Women's History Month
Read more...
12 Times African Women Have Already Made History In 2016 Read more...
Celebrating the 2016 Women's Month through the Miss.Africa Seed Fund:
At DotConnectAfrica, we celebrated the Women's History Month by announcing the Winner of the Miss.Africa 2015 USD 5000 Seed Fund as eMobilis. Two winners of the USD 1000.00 prize were selected, therefore, this brings the total price of the Inaugural 2015 Miss.Africa seed fund to Seven Thousand United Stated Dollars (USD 7000)..
Read More
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The Miss.Africa digital program is a gender-focused initiative targeted mainly at female youth audiences in Africa to increase their personal involvement in early technology use and adoption with a view to improving their digital self-awareness and empowerment, and overall self-esteem. The "Miss.Africa" digital program is envisioned as one of the central pillars of DotConnectAfrica Trust's corporate social responsibility program. It is aimed at attracting more young girls and women to the Internet platform to enable them form a sizable demographic of Internet users in Africa, thereby involving them in complementary gender development initiatives that improve the lives of young girls and women.

The Miss.Africa program led by the DCA Academy, announced the Seed Fund in Africa that will provide small grants to support women and girls in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields to launch or expand their own initiatives that will increase their digital opportunities in IT related training, jobs and leadership roles. The program is interested in learning about successful activities that are currently supporting women and girls in STEM, and through this effort, we identify how we might support scalability and their impacts.

Press Contact: Thomas Kamanzi, Newsletter Editor