By Benjamin Mensah 

Accra, June 20, GNA- Certificates have been presented to the last batch, Cohort 12, of the Soronko Rotary Girls Coding Project, in Accra, with a call on the youth to be more engaged in digital training for the job market. 

With excitement and joy, the graduating students who from April 9, 2023, underwent the six-week course, displayed their certificates as they took group pictures with officials from Rotary International, the Rotary Club Limburgerhof/Vorderpfalz and the Rotary Club of Accra-Airport, who supported the programme. 

The project, since its launch in 2020, equipped 300 girls from 17 to 25 years, from low-income backgrounds with digital skills in Computer Basics, Microsoft Word & Powerpoint, G-Suite, HTML+CSS and Content Creation with Canva, as well as soft skills like positive self-concept. 

The project was handed over to Soronko Academy to take into its sustainability phase. 

“We are assembled here at this event to draw down the curtain on a project which has been significant for our Club and impactful for the beneficiaries,” Mr C C Bruce Jnr, President of Rotary Club of Accra Airport, said. 

He added: “Now is time to close this phase of this project and as we see it transition into its next phase; there is no denying that it has been successful and met its objective. 

 “Well done and congratulations to all who contributed in any way to this project.” 

Mr Bruce traced the history of the project through the COVID-19 epidemic period and said the project was initially positioned as a basic literacy project but was changed to economic empowerment with a focus on job creation. 

The tenacity of the project team paid off and the project was approved paving the way for the launch,” Mr Bruce said. 

He recalled the words of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that “equality for women and girls is not only a basic human right but a social and economic imperative. Where women are educated and empowered, economies are more productive and stronger. Where women are fully represented, societies are more powerful.

He said that inspired the birth of the project. 

Mr Bruce urged the graduates to brace themselves up with the skills acquired for the job market. 

“With employment being a pivotal pathway out of poverty for families, the project ensured the young women were not left behind in the job market, especially in the ICT sector,” he said.

Mrs Regina Honu, Chief Executive Officer of Soronko Academy, said most of the project beneficiaries had continued their tertiary education or through certified digital training while others related to jobs and internships. 

“Coding is the new language everybody must learn,” she later told journalists. 

Mr David Amankwah, Governor-Elect of District 9102 urged the graduates to make an impact with the skills they had learnt in their communities. 

Mr David Schimd, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP SE delivered a goodwill message. 

Ms Maryanatu Habib and Linda Ackah-Mensah, both graduates, expressed their appreciation to the organisers and called on the youth, yet to be coding literate, to access such courses. 

“From a tabula rasa to coding expert, Ms Habib said and added that she knew nothing about coding, but had been equipped by the course to create websites and design logos. 

Ms Ackah-Mensah said: “The course has been insightful.” 

GNA