NGO Focus : W - TEC

Hi, let us meet with you? Give us a brief background of yourself.

Answer: My names are Oluwatoyin Ajao-Dawodu. I am the project coordinator of Women's Technology Empowerment Centre. I am a dynamic, proactive and passionate individual that is highly interested in working towards gender equality and equity through girls/women development in all areas of their daily lives. I am a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University where I studied Accounting. I acquired other knowledge especially in ICT by going to a computer school after which I continue getting more knowledge by reading and attending trainings, seminars and programs related to ICT in development. I opted to be a development worker after school instead of going fully into accounting profession. I have been working in the development sector for 5years now.

Where did the WTEC mission come from? What led you to do this?

Answer: My Boss, Oreoluwa Somolu is the brain behind the dream and existence of Women's Technology Empowerment Centre. She has a Bachelors degree in Economics from Essex University, U.K. and a Masters degree in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics & Political Science. It was when she was conducting research for her thesis while doing her Masters in Design and Management of Information Systems that this idea was born. She noticed that there were not many women in ICT fields.
She did not start straight away but she worked for several years in the United States at an educational non-for-profit organization on a number of projects, which explored the interplay between gender and technology and which sought to attract more girls and women to study and work in science and technology-related fields and when she got to Nigeria she also worked as Project Manager of Youth Empowerment & Restoration Initiative, an NGO working to create career awareness among young Nigerians in senior secondary school, polytechnics and universities

Tell us about your organization, the structure, your mission, vision and goals and how you intend to achieve them.

Answer: The Women's Technology Empowerment Centre, W.TEC, is a Nigerian non-governmental organization working to encourage Nigerian girls and women to learn how to use technology as a means of empowering themselves socially and economically.
This is done through projects which build technology skills among women, as well as other technology literacy workshops. W.TEC will also research and publish works examining pivotal issues related to how African women use technology, barriers preventing or limiting technology use, and strategies for more efficient technology use.
W.TEC which started its operations in 2008 has a strong mission to educate, connect and empower Nigerian women through active engagement with technology

Its Vision is to see a society where Nigerian women are able to use information and communication tools successfully for work, leisure and activism
For W.TEC to achieve all its set out to do, it will continuously work with women/girls in:

1. Technology Literacy Classes - Aimed at helping to develop a variety of technology skills
2. Technology-Based Projects - Where participants work and learn together
3. Work-placement / Internships - With innovative technology firms
4. Mentoring Opportunities - With experienced technology professionals
5. Research - W.TEC will conduct research into how women are using technology with an eye on how they could better utilize technology for social and economic empowerment.

What have you done so far?

Answer: W.TEC has successfully empower 24 women in the use of web 2.0 project tagged Networking for Success Project.
Another just concluded project is W.TEC Girls' Technology Summer Camp. Where 15 secondary School girls camped together for one week and participated in technology classes, computer lab work, games and activities intended to foster team and leadership qualities, discussion on social issues and how it affect them amongst others

Working with girls and women has been fantastic for W.TEC; we have been able to discover a lot of hidden potentials. A lot of them are already applying what they have learnt to development their organizations and personal lives. It has been a rewarding experience for W.TEC.

How do people (Women) partake in your programs? What are the basic requirements forintending participants?

Answer: Each program of W.TEC has its targeted group of women. Some of our programs are targeted at rural women, professional and non professional women, young girls and female students. The entry requirements of each of our programs are varied. We look at those that can not operate computers, and those that can operate computers but are not aware of other ICT tools they can use to develop themselves and their work.

We use new media and old media to get our program information to the targeted group by sending letters to identified schools, organizations and the use of social networking sites such as facebook. W.TEC uses its blog to disseminate information as well as its mailing list. We were on Today's woman TV program in July and it helped publicized our programs too. A lot of people got to know about W.TEC existence and its programs. Some of our programs were reported on newspapers and this further helped in publicizing our efforts.

There was a graduation ceremony for NFS students, what next, how do you follow up,monitor and evaluate their progres?

Answer: All tools learnt during NFS project are online. We intend monitoring our graduated participants online as we will know if they are using those tools learnt or not. We also hope to get our own training centre soon. This will make it possible for our graduated participants to come around from time to time to use our facilities. We are currently looking into other means of evaluating them as well

How do you get the funding the run your organization?

Answer We apply to existing donor organizations that are interested in our work, the general public as well as our wonderful board of trustees that have being supportive.

We will be grateful to get more assistance from the general public that are interested in our work. Our website is www.w-teconline.org. We can also be emailed via info@w-teconline.org and our blog is http://w-teconline.org/blog.

What are your future plans at WTEC? Do you have any plans for expansion?

Answer: Yes, W.TEC will definitely expand. We have a unique vision and we will not stop pursuing it. The future of W.TEC is a bright one. W.TEC has come to educate, connect and empower girls and women.

W-TEC Website