Mariéme Jamme: I’m sorry for the delay. I’ve been trying to find a way to…

Mariéme Jamme: I’m just going to put agenda here. I just wanted to say hello and just touch base again, give a little bit of feedback about iamtheCODE. I already sent the agenda to your assistant.

Audrey Tang: I have received them.

Mariéme Jamme: Great. I just give you a little bit about our progress and what we’ve been doing so far with iamtheCODE. So far, we have made better progress since I met you. We’re now in around 68 countries. The girls have been coding. We now have around 18,000 girls around the world.

Audrey Tang: Congrats!

Mariéme Jamme: I’ve been traveling across the world to meet many girls. Recently, I’ve been working in refugee camps in Kenya, mainly in Dadaab. We have a lot of activities happening in Dadaab also in Kenya. We’re becoming a charity now. We’ve moved from a CIC to a charity.

Mariéme Jamme: Now, we have dissolved the board we have before, to now have honorary ambassadors. We’re trying to find key individuals that we would like them to join the organization. I was very impressed when I met you in New York. [laughs]

Audrey Tang: Me, too.

Mariéme Jamme: I was very impressed with your work. I’ve been watching lately all the work you’ve been doing with the coronavirus. This mission is really great.

Audrey Tang: Thank you.

Mariéme Jamme: It’s really very good. I just thought that we’d like to nominate you as an ambassador for iamtheCODE. It doesn’t entail too much, but to have voices like you represented through our organization. We have many, many people.

Mariéme Jamme: We’ve been really looking high-level people like you, who really understand diversity, understand Africa, but also pioneers in getting the tech ecosystem globally more clean and lean. [laughs] I just thought that you are the best person to maybe post-pandemic, you can come and visit Kakuma, visit the refugees.

Mariéme Jamme: We have lots of girls there. They’re amazing. They’re fantastic. They’re refugees from South Sudan, from Burundi, from Kinshasa, doing amazing work. Really amazing girls. I was just there in March before the lockdown. They are really amazing girls that I think they need to be under your radar, because they’re really important.

Mariéme Jamme: Because of the connectivity in the camp, there are many partners working with us. Like I said, I just thought that we nominate you as an ambassador. I hope you can accept it. [laughs] I don’t need an answer now, but I hope you can…

Audrey Tang: I’m personally, of course, willing. As with everything, this needs approval from our Foreign Service. The thing is that the cabinet, we’ll have a new cabinet in a month. The earliest that I can give you an answer is May the 20th, which is the beginning of…

Mariéme Jamme: That’s fine.

Audrey Tang: …the President’s new term. Before that, we have a month. Would you like to give me a document entailing exactly how that entail, and also the time that I spend on it, how it aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals. I’m sure you have no problem preparing that.

Audrey Tang: You are yourself an SDGs ambassador. I can circulate it to my Foreign Service colleagues, knowing that they will come to a final decision only after the President’s second term, but I’m personally willing.

Mariéme Jamme: That’s fantastic. I will do that. The second point is, when I was in Taiwan, I’ve been thinking about developing our product. We now have made a lot of progress on developing our own hardware. Because we would like to add a lot of…One of the problem we have since the lockdown is many companies are calling us, asking us to digitalize our content.

Mariéme Jamme: They want to use the iamtheCODE content to get the marginalized girls to learn how to code, but also to do other activities. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been having a lot of conversation about UNESCO, about many organizations, asking us to find a way to digitalize our content and to help them with their digital strategy.

Mariéme Jamme: We decided to develop our own keybook. What we need right now is a hardware. Usually, we use the Raspberry Pi. I can show you, the Raspberry Pi, that’s our main hardware. We use this Raspberry Pi usually for the content.

Mariéme Jamme: When I was in Taiwan, I saw some alternatives that we can also use. I really would like to share with you the product we’re trying to design to see if we can find partners in Taiwan to help us with some of the work we are looking to do. That was the second point.

Mariéme Jamme: The third point is, throughout the three years, we’ve been thinking about the well-being of the girls. We created a well-being club, now in seven countries. UNHCR is a partner with this. We’re looking at the well-being of the girls, their body, their mental health, and all of that. We also created that. I’m happy to also send some information.

Mariéme Jamme: What we’re looking for right now for the well-being is we would like to digitalize the lesson plans. We have lesson plans for teachers, also lesson plans for train the trainers to make sure that the well-being club is global, because I think post-pandemic, mental health and well-being of people would be very, very important.

Mariéme Jamme: Also, just the last point, we also created a mentoring platform where people all around the world are mentoring the girls. We match a mentor like you and a mentee, so they work together. This week, we are having a webinar with a big company. They want to start mentoring the iamtheCODE girls in different subject matters. I just wanted to call you to give you some update about iamtheCODE. [laughs]

Audrey Tang: That’s great. I think it’s very interesting that you’ve now found many advocates and ambassadors. I just took another look at your advocate and ambassadors list, and it has really grown since we last met. That means that more people are being aware of your work. This is really excellent.

Audrey Tang: As you know, during the coronavirus, I personally would not have time for the mentoring program, unfortunately, but I would definitely share this news with my colleagues at my office, and see whether they have other suggestions or connections. That’s no problem. Also, for the iamtheCODE product, as I understand, you’re looking for a manufacturer of alternate design, right?

Mariéme Jamme: Yeah, manufacture alternate design. We already have a mock-up. I think when I went to the National Institute in Taiwan, they were willing to…I also contacted Acer. I can send you the PowerPoint after our call, so you can have a look.

Mariéme Jamme: Basically, we’re looking actually for someone to help us find a designer, either in the UK, either in Taiwan, and then manufacturing person. Basically, we are now looking for funding to get all of the content into the hardware. We’ll have offline and online activities. The lawyers right now are looking to trademark and to patent it.

Mariéme Jamme: I think it’s going to be one of the greatest product right now missing in the world, because girls all around the world and boys in refugee camps, in slums, in favelas, I believe sincerely that they can use it. I’ve been working on it for five years now. I think it’s the right time to do it.

Mariéme Jamme: When I was thinking two days ago with my boat, because I was in Japan after that. What I saw in Taiwan, I thought that if we want to make it successful, we need to do it there.

Audrey Tang: Just a couple of points. The funding of this comes entirely from donors, either through money donation or in-kind donation, like donating their products? There’s no crowdfunding or…

Mariéme Jamme: Yeah, crowdfunding. Because we already have done that, we want to start a Kickstarter. Hopefully around May time, we want to do a Kickstarter to start attracting people into…

Audrey Tang: I think it’s easier for me, because I’m in charge of the social innovation action plan here. It’s easier for me to share your crowdfunding campaign.

Audrey Tang: It was people who are interested in small amounts donation, but more mobilization, getting the message across, than one or two single funder that absorb all the costs, because that would be another ministry. I’m not in charge of industrial innovation action plans. Social innovation, that I can help.

Mariéme Jamme: We found a creative director in Japan, because she’s now writing a storyboard for a way to get the “Keep Going” as a keybook. I will send about the presentation. It’s really good. I really think that if I can have either manufactured it in Taiwan, it’d be a very good project because I believe in it.

Audrey Tang: OK. Once you prepare your Kickstarter material, and before you announce it, you can send it to me, and I can see if I can, for example, call for my friends to help that campaign. Or if I find something that I think will not attract people, I will also give my honest feedback, telling you why this is not a good culture fit.

Mariéme Jamme: No problem. I’ll do that. I will send you today the PowerPoint, and then also send you some information about the ambassadorship.

Audrey Tang: For ambassadorship, I will let ST know that we can circulate it internally, but we will only be able to get you back around late May.

Mariéme Jamme: No problem.

Audrey Tang: Which is about the same time you’re going on the Kickstarter anyway.

Mariéme Jamme: Yeah, exactly. Great.

Audrey Tang: That’s pretty much it.

Mariéme Jamme: I’ve taken too much of your time.

Audrey Tang: It’s fine. I’m really happy catching up with you.

Mariéme Jamme: Me, too. Congratulation for everything you do. I’ve been watching…I wanted to join the webinar last time, but they said it was canceled.

Audrey Tang: Thank you, and have a good local time.

Mariéme Jamme: Bye-bye.

Audrey Tang: Bye-bye.