A letter to Namibia

This year at Code Blossom, we are launching a project that is very dear to us:
We are expanding to Namibia! This project is very special for us in many ways.

In her letter, Alice, our Lead Africa, tells us more about the project, how it came about, and why it is personally meaningful to her.

Hello Namibia

Last year, when I joined Code Blossom, we had only just started introducing Code Blossom to the African continent. We did this by launching a pilot class with twenty Malawian participants. As some of these participants are about to graduate, our hopes of bringing the program to other African countries are slowly coming to light. It fills me with excitement and joy to announce that later this month, we will be commencing a new class of forty Namibian participants.

This being our biggest funded class is both a great achievement and a milestone for the organization. And we are more than grateful to the atDta Foundation for bringing this incredible project to life.

As an African woman in tech, this moment also has a very personal meaning for me. Knowing firsthand the challenges women face when navigating entry into this space, both on a cultural and societal level, and now seeing a program that gives women the necessary tools to participate in these spaces, brings me enormous joy.

In every onboarding session of a new class that I have had the pleasure of being a part of, I often joke about the fact that it will never get old for me to see a room filled with women in tech, just because I remember so vividly a time when there were just two or three of us in the room. Thus, seeing more than two faces will always be a win and a constant source of joy for me. The Full-Stack software development will be offered to women who reside in the Khomas region of Namibia.

This is a pilot program, and I would like to share with you some of the reasons we chose Namibia specifically.

Having one of the most stable political landscapes in Africa and an economy that has a high GDP per capita, Namibia also boasts one of the highest adult literacy rates, with 92.25%. Despite this great foundation, the country faces a high youth unemployment rate. To address this, Code Blossom has come up with our software development training program that bridges the education and employability gap the country faces

As well as offering the technical knowledge, participants will also be educated in social skills that are required to sustain a thriving and successful career in the industry. There is a great consensus here at Code Blossom about how having the right social skills, such as navigating a workplace conflict, handling yourself in a professional manner, and receiving and giving feedback the correct way, has the power to change the game for individuals. Thus allowing women to not just get jobs, but rather have the pathway to affect and influence greater things through their jobs. And this is why we hold this part of the curriculum in high regard.

With the introduction of something new, there is always a level of apprehension for the things unknown. There is also the excitement of gaining new knowledge for our own development. The introduction of this new Namibia project is a step in the right direction for Code Blossom.

As we continue our mission to bring equality through education to those who need it, we flood the tech space with highly qualified, confident female developers, and we know: The future for African women in tech is bright.

Thank you, Alice, for your touching and inspiring words.

This letter reminds us that when women come together, we’re unstoppable.

To learn more about the atDta Foundation, follow this link.