AHOY (Advancing and Harnessing Opportunities for the Youth), an African youth development organization, has charged Africa to empower young women and promote gender equality through innovations and technology ahead of this year’s IWD celebrations.
The NGO will host a Twitter Space live discussion on “the dangers women face in the digital space, particularly online gender-based violence.”
The event will be hosted on the @ahoyafrica Twitter Space on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 7 p.m. and will feature panelists such as Genevieve Partington, the Country Director for Amnesty International; Jennifer De-Graft Ninson, the Social Inclusion Lead for AHOY; and Thelma Hayford, the Gender Adviser for Oxfam Ghana, as moderator.
AHOY is also hosting radio discussions on the IWD theme, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” bringing together SRC Women’s Commissioners and campus-based gender groups. The discussions are slated for two weeks and commenced on February 26th, 2023, on selected Accra-based radio stations.
Meanwhile, the IWD essay competition organized by AHOY has ended. The competition was open to female students in tertiary institutions in Ghana and required participants to submit essays of not more than 1500 words on the topic, “How can technology be used to empower and create equal opportunities for young women?”
It was run from February 23 to March 2, 2023, and the top three winners would receive prizes, including laptops, MiFi devices, and data subscriptions.
The winners would be announced and awarded on International Women’s Day (IWD), March 8.
AHOY (Advancing and Harnessing Opportunities for the Youth) is a call to action to engage, develop, and empower young Africans to build “the Africa we want” in the social, economic, and political spheres of life. Based in Accra, Ghana, but with a continental focus, its core principles are active advocacy, holistic development, an optimistic outlook, and youth-inspired work in Africa.