Joint press release

Press

By Siemens and UN Women Germany

Munich, September 15, 2022

Active contribution toward closing gender gap in tech

Siemens and UN Women to train young
African women in ICT, coding and further
digital literacy skills• Cooperative project to train more than 600 young women from fivecountries in Africa in ICT, coding, leadership and communications skills, inthe context of the African Girls Can Code Initiative• Siemens to make €780,000 available in the form of hardware, IT training
materials and technical assistance to enhance young girls’ access to jobsand employment opportunities• UN Women Liaison Office to African Union (AU) and United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to coordinate activities under theumbrella of „African Girls Can Code Initiative“Siemens AG and UN Women Germany committed to jointly support theimplementation of the African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI), an Africa
continental program which aims to provide comprehensive training in informationand communication technology (ICT) as well as coding and leadership skills to girls
and young women in Africa. In this connection, the partners emphasized the vitalrole education plays in addressing gender inequalities and accelerating theempowerment of women and girls. The project’s target group comprises young
women aged 17 to 25 from Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.
Within two years, as many as 625 young women will benefit from the partnership; allofferings are free of charge for the participants. By 2023, Siemens will initiallyprovide €500,000 for this cause and will support two-week, full-time coding camps in
the five countries with digital literacy, programming as well as personal development
skills. Specifically, the coding camps will cover topics such as robotics, the InternetSiemens AGCommunications
Head: Lynette Jackson
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Siemens AGPress releaseof Things, animation, 3D printing, gender equality and women’s empowerment,leadership, and communications.
In addition, the company will provide laptops with a total value of over €280,000 to
all participants. Five UN Women Country Offices in partnership with relevant
government sector ministries and other key stakeholders including Civil Society
Organizations and the private sector will coordinate the implementation of theproject.
Elke Ferner, chair of UN Women Germany, said: “It’s great that, together with
Siemens, we’re breaking new ground when it comes to education for young womenin Africa and that this technology company is doing pioneering work here.
Collaborative projects like this one are essential for enabling young African women
to develop future-oriented competencies in a protected environment. At both thenational and international levels, taking a stand for women’s rights and for
educational equality is a societal duty for all of us.”
“I’m particularly pleased that we’ll be supporting this important UN Women initiativewith our knowhow. Here, we’re making a difference by contributing the expertise
Siemens has in the areas of IT, cybersecurity and tailored training materials as wellas our local know-how through our regional company in South Africa,” explained
Judith Wiese, Chief People and Sustainability Officer and member of the Managing
Board of Siemens AG. “By doing this, we want to give young women in Africa achance to enter a future-oriented job market while offering them a path to financial
independence.”

IT and cybersecurity experts from Siemens will provide technical assistance toimplementation of the project activities in the different countries. In addition to thetwo-week training sessions, Siemens proposes to provide four- to six-monthprograms for advanced training in low-code programming.
Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens in Southern and Eastern Africa, commented:“The African continent offers enormous potential. I’m very pleased, that we’reteaming up with UN Women to undertake concerted and systematic action to create

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opportunities for development, in particular for girls and young women, and to thus
actively address the disadvantages they face.”

The African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) that UN Women called to life in 2018is a four-year program that aims to train girls and young women between 17 and 25
years of age to become computer programmers, developers and designers and toempower them to begin university studies and a career in the ICT sector.

Through the roll out of the second phase of the initiative that commenced in January2022, UN Women is driving this initiative in partnership with the African Union
Commission and the International Telecommunication Union with support from theGovernment of Belgium and Siemens AG targeting 10 countries. Under AGCCI,
partnerships with local stakeholders such as NGOs, ICT research and academic
institutions aim to sustain opportunities to digital trainings and access to digitalplatforms to accelerate young women’s employability and contribution to Africa’s
development across sectors.

The initiative further strengthens the building of a strong personal network in which
the young women motivate and support each other and possibly implement jointentrepreneurial ventures. It also supports the development and roll out of an online
platform to facilitate mentorship, training, job opportunities, and the promotion ofinnovative programmes developed by beneficiaries.
“I’m very proud to be able to support this initiative and drive its development – inparticular in light of my dual responsibilities for cybersecurity and diversity,” said
Natalia Oropeza, Chief Cybersecurity Officer and Chief Diversity, Inclusion andEquity Officer at Siemens AG. “My responsibilities bring together many topics thatare of enormous importance today: technology, IT, cybersecurity, education anddiversity. Supporting young women in obtaining an adequate education and inadvancing their personal development is a decisive factor for a sustainable future –and that’s not only the case in Africa, but also worldwide.”Awa Ndiaye-Seck, UN Women Special Representative to AU and UNECA, noted:“As UN Women, we recognize that AGCCI is catalytic and not a panacea to bridge
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Siemens AGPress releaseurgently need to forge and nurture multi-sectoral and multi-level partnerships thataim to address not only the policy level bottlenecks related to access to technology
and finances but also the gender based harmful norms and practices that hinder
women and girls from pursuing STEM fields.”
Hanna Hennig, Chief Information Officer of Siemens AG, added: “According toUNESCO, women and girls are 25 percent less likely than men to know how to use
digital technologies for basic purposes. Enabling women to gain extensive access totechnology is a matter of equal rights. We’ve already had very positive experienceswith our coding camps in Germany and other countries. I’m very enthusiastic about
the plans for joining forces with UN Women to enable young women in Africa toacquire such vital knowledge. This partnership has the potential to developtransformative impact.”
This press release is available at https://sie.ag/3LcdPHM
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemens_press

Contacts for journalists:
Konstanze Somborn
Siemens AG
Phone: +49 173 894 73 54
konstanze.somborn@siemens.com

Bettina Jahn
UN Women Deutschland e.V.
Phone: +49 1787302891
b.jahn@unwomen.de

About UN Women Germany e.V.
UN Women Nationales Komitee Germany e.V. is a non-profit association and one of 12 national committees
worldwide that support the work of “UN Women” on gender equality and the empowerment of women through public
relations and fundraising at country level. www.unwomen.deSiemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, andhealthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, tocleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology withpurpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its
customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them to transform the everyday for billions of people.
Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical
technology provider shaping the future of healthcare. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in
Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power.
In fiscal 2021, which ended on September 30, 2021, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €62.3 billion and net
income of €6.7 billion. As of September 30, 2021, the company had around 303,000 employees worldwide. Further
information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

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