DODOMA, September 8, 2026:
Efforts to prepare Tanzanian girls for the rapidly expanding digital economy are taking a new direction, with UNESCO calling for gender to be placed at the centre of digital skills education to ensure that girls are not left behind in the country’s digital transformation.
The call comes as Tanzania, through collaboration with UNESCO and Beijing Normal University (BNU), implements the “Closing the Digital Divide: Ensuring Gender-Transformative Digital Skills Education for Women and Girls” project, an initiative aimed at strengthening digital skills while addressing barriers that continue to limit girls’ participation in technology and innovation.
Gender specialist Dr Rosemarie N. Mwaipopo said digitalisation was no longer simply a matter of access to computers or the internet, but an increasingly important pathway to education, employment, innovation and wider socio-economic development.
She said the country’s digital transformation would have greater impact if girls were given deliberate opportunities to acquire digital skills, participate in innovation and develop the confidence needed to pursue technology-related education and careers.
“Digitalisation is a major influence in societal development, enhancing access to opportunities,” Dr Mwaipopo said, while emphasising the need to confront the persistent gender gap in digital participation.
She questioned why the gap continued to exist globally and in Tanzania despite various innovations, programmes and interventions designed to expand access to technology and digital skills.
According to her, the challenge was not only about whether technology was available, but also about who had the skills, confidence, opportunity and enabling environment to use that technology and turn it into meaningful solutions.
She said this was where the UNESCO-BNU project could make an important contribution by introducing a gender perspective into digital skills education.
CREATING A CRITICAL MASS OF GIRLS IN ICT
Dr Mwaipopo said the project would deliberately select female students to participate in ICT innovation training as part of an affirmative action approach aimed at creating a critical mass of girls with digital knowledge and skills.
She said increasing the number of girls exposed to technology and innovation would help challenge the long-standing perception that ICT and STEM-related fields were predominantly for boys.
The approach, she explained, was intended to create more girls who could confidently engage with technology, develop innovations and eventually pursue careers in the digital sector.
“This is not simply about teaching girls how to use technology. It is about creating opportunities for them to become knowledgeable, confident and active participants in the digital future,” she said.
She said a growing pool of digitally skilled girls could also provide role models for younger generations and contribute to changing community perceptions about the role of women in technology.
CHANGING THE WAY GIRLS LEARN
Dr Mwaipopo said teachers would be equally important in achieving this transformation.
She called for teachers to be equipped with gender-transformative pedagogy, enabling them to recognise and challenge attitudes, practices and social norms that may discourage girls from participating fully in ICT and STEM education.
She said teachers needed to create classrooms where girls felt confident to experiment, ask questions, solve problems and develop technological innovations.
The objective, she said, was to move beyond simply providing equal access to boys and girls towards creating learning environments capable of transforming the conditions that have historically limited girls’ participation.
INNOVATION THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE
Dr Mwaipopo further challenged students to think about gender when developing ICT solutions.
She said female students should be equipped to apply a gender lens in ICT processes and innovation, ensuring that digital products and solutions were accessible, sensitive to different needs and inclusive.
She explained that successful digital innovation should not only answer the question of whether a technology works, but also consider who can access it, who can use it and who ultimately benefits from it.
Such an approach, she said, would enable girls to see technology as more than computers and coding, but as a powerful tool for addressing real challenges facing families, communities and the country.
The gender-transformative approach is being implemented alongside efforts to establish and strengthen ICT Clubs in public schools, providing girls with practical opportunities to develop digital skills, participate in innovation and explore technology-related career pathways.
The broader UNESCO-BNU initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, reflecting the importance of partnerships in strengthening digital education and expanding opportunities for women and girls.
Through the project, teachers and female students are expected to gain skills and approaches that can contribute to more inclusive digital learning environments.
For Tanzania, the initiative comes at a time when digital skills are increasingly becoming essential for education, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Its significance therefore extends beyond the classroom.
By deliberately investing in girls’ digital skills today, the country is building a generation capable of participating in and contributing to tomorrow’s technology-driven economy.
The ultimate ambition is to ensure that Tanzanian girls are not merely users of technology, but creators, innovators, entrepreneurs and future leaders in the digital economy.
And by ensuring that no girl is excluded from the digital transformation, Tanzania can strengthen its human capital and build a more inclusive digital future in which every girl has an opportunity to learn, innovate and shape the country’s development.
The call comes as Tanzania, through collaboration with UNESCO and Beijing Normal University (BNU), implements the “Closing the Digital Divide: Ensuring Gender-Transformative Digital Skills Education for Women and Girls” project, an initiative aimed at strengthening digital skills while addressing barriers that continue to limit girls’ participation in technology and innovation.
Gender specialist Dr Rosemarie N. Mwaipopo said digitalisation was no longer simply a matter of access to computers or the internet, but an increasingly important pathway to education, employment, innovation and wider socio-economic development.
She said the country’s digital transformation would have greater impact if girls were given deliberate opportunities to acquire digital skills, participate in innovation and develop the confidence needed to pursue technology-related education and careers.
“Digitalisation is a major influence in societal development, enhancing access to opportunities,” Dr Mwaipopo said, while emphasising the need to confront the persistent gender gap in digital participation.
She questioned why the gap continued to exist globally and in Tanzania despite various innovations, programmes and interventions designed to expand access to technology and digital skills.
According to her, the challenge was not only about whether technology was available, but also about who had the skills, confidence, opportunity and enabling environment to use that technology and turn it into meaningful solutions.
She said this was where the UNESCO-BNU project could make an important contribution by introducing a gender perspective into digital skills education.
CREATING A CRITICAL MASS OF GIRLS IN ICT
Dr Mwaipopo said the project would deliberately select female students to participate in ICT innovation training as part of an affirmative action approach aimed at creating a critical mass of girls with digital knowledge and skills.
She said increasing the number of girls exposed to technology and innovation would help challenge the long-standing perception that ICT and STEM-related fields were predominantly for boys.
The approach, she explained, was intended to create more girls who could confidently engage with technology, develop innovations and eventually pursue careers in the digital sector.
“This is not simply about teaching girls how to use technology. It is about creating opportunities for them to become knowledgeable, confident and active participants in the digital future,” she said.
She said a growing pool of digitally skilled girls could also provide role models for younger generations and contribute to changing community perceptions about the role of women in technology.
CHANGING THE WAY GIRLS LEARN
Dr Mwaipopo said teachers would be equally important in achieving this transformation.
She called for teachers to be equipped with gender-transformative pedagogy, enabling them to recognise and challenge attitudes, practices and social norms that may discourage girls from participating fully in ICT and STEM education.
She said teachers needed to create classrooms where girls felt confident to experiment, ask questions, solve problems and develop technological innovations.
The objective, she said, was to move beyond simply providing equal access to boys and girls towards creating learning environments capable of transforming the conditions that have historically limited girls’ participation.
She said teachers and students would also need greater awareness of gender equality, gender barriers, enabling factors and intersectionality to understand why girls may experience digital education differently depending on their social and economic circumstances.
INNOVATION THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE
Dr Mwaipopo further challenged students to think about gender when developing ICT solutions.
She said female students should be equipped to apply a gender lens in ICT processes and innovation, ensuring that digital products and solutions were accessible, sensitive to different needs and inclusive.
She explained that successful digital innovation should not only answer the question of whether a technology works, but also consider who can access it, who can use it and who ultimately benefits from it.
Such an approach, she said, would enable girls to see technology as more than computers and coding, but as a powerful tool for addressing real challenges facing families, communities and the country.
BUILDING TANZANIA’S DIGITAL GENERATION
The gender-transformative approach is being implemented alongside efforts to establish and strengthen ICT Clubs in public schools, providing girls with practical opportunities to develop digital skills, participate in innovation and explore technology-related career pathways.
The broader UNESCO-BNU initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, reflecting the importance of partnerships in strengthening digital education and expanding opportunities for women and girls.
Through the project, teachers and female students are expected to gain skills and approaches that can contribute to more inclusive digital learning environments.
For Tanzania, the initiative comes at a time when digital skills are increasingly becoming essential for education, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Its significance therefore extends beyond the classroom.
By deliberately investing in girls’ digital skills today, the country is building a generation capable of participating in and contributing to tomorrow’s technology-driven economy.
The ultimate ambition is to ensure that Tanzanian girls are not merely users of technology, but creators, innovators, entrepreneurs and future leaders in the digital economy.
And by ensuring that no girl is excluded from the digital transformation, Tanzania can strengthen its human capital and build a more inclusive digital future in which every girl has an opportunity to learn, innovate and shape the country’s development.
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