Turkmenistan – From May 26-28, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), held the DigiWomen Codefest hackathon competition for women and girls at the Ish Nokady Coworking Center.
The three-day hackathon provided a platform for 70 DigiWomen Camp participants from four provinces of the country to compete, innovate, and collaborate using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and coding. Consulting companies, investors, ICT experts, and donor organizations provided mentorship and support to the participants.
Addressing hackathon participants, USAID Representative to Turkmenistan, Nino Nadiradze noted, “The DigiWomen Camp is more than just an opportunity to learn and grow professionally. It allows us to come together as a community of women and girls to demonstrate our passion for technology and innovation. It is a chance to support each other, acquire skills to become leaders in the sector, share experiences and insights, and to create a more inclusive and diverse technology industry”.
On the final day of the event, participating teams presented their projects to judges and the audience to be rated on their creativity, innovation, and the projects’ potential impact. Ultimately, the judges selected three projects. First place went to aimIT team and their Lybas project, for the team’s strong teamwork and engaging presentation that demonstrated practical and realistic approach to implementing digital marketplace solutions linking dressmakers and buyers in the clothing industry.
USAID launched the DigiWomen Camp in February 2023 in partnership with the Embassy of the United States, Hewlett Packard Kazakhstan, and the Sanly Bilim, private education center in Turkmenistan. The goal of the Camp is to create new professional development opportunities in the ICT sector for women and girls in Turkmenistan.
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USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. For more information, visit USAID/Central Asia website https://www.usaid.gov/central-asia-regional and USAID/Central Asia’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/USAIDCentralAsia .
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