From August 27 to December 15, 2020, the international Technovation Girls program, which has been implemented in Uzbekistan since 2016, in partnership with the joint project of the Agency for Youth Affairs of Uzbekistan and the UN "Youth for Social Harmony in Fergana Valley", held a series of weekly free online trainings for girls and mentors in Andijan, Namangan and Fergana.

On December 15, the Demo Day of the program was held in Fergana Valley. 50 participants made it to the finals, and 8 teams developed mobile application projects. The topic of mobile applications is teaching children to preserve nature, online diagnostics and medical consultations, an application for university applicants, an application for teaching garbage sorting and recycling, an educational application for children, and other topics that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Invited experts (12 people from IT, business, representatives of government agencies, UNDP and for Youth Affairs Agency, mentors of the Technovation program) assessed the teams' projects and gave feedback on improving the applications. Teams will continue to work on projects within the framework of the international competition Technovation Girls-2021, held in Uzbekistan from January to May 2021.

Comments of participants, mentors and experts on the results of the Demo Day and the program:

Gulnoza Khamidova, mentor from Fergana, school teacher at the : “After completing the program, I opened an App Inventor programming club at my school for children interested in learning programming. Our school needs help from the Agency for Youth Affairs in Fergana to provide computers and the Internet. I will conduct classes myself . ”

Farrukh Omonov, Deputy Director of the Agency for Youth Affairs: “Infrastructure for technology projects is very important. We plan to equip a center in Fergana with computers, and Technovation participants can conduct classes and their programs in this center. We will support your projects! ”

Zulkhumor Tursunkhodjaeva, participant from Namangan : “To be honest, during these 4 months we received more knowledge than in a year. I learned how to create an application, make video editing. I hadn't even heard of marketing before, now I know the basics. We have created a team and are planning to attract more girls from Namangan to participate in the Technovation Girls program ”.

Oydinoy Khusanova, mentor from Andijan : “The training on App Inventor, business planning, and especially the training of international experts from Oracle were very useful to me”.

Alisher Achilov, jury expert, head of Online Service Group : “Teams need to strengthen their technical skills in creating mobile applications (to know how the server works, for example). We are ready to help! ”

Murad Ibragimov, jury expert, head of the department of interaction with partners and PR Uzinfocom, Microsoft representative in Uzbekistan: “The projects are excellent! All teams need to think over the risks and different scenarios for the development of their projects. ”

……….

The goal of Technovation trainings in Ferghana Valley is to assist girls 16-18 years old in acquiring knowledge and skills in IT, promoting female role models in STEM, strengthening gender equality and empowering women and girls, providing quality education and creating a community of women and girls in STEM and innovation in the region.  Trainings were also conducted for mentors. Mentors within the framework of the program were female students, teachers, IT specialists, aged from 19 to 32 years.

The Technovation Fergana Valley training program lasted 3.5 months, more than 30 online classes were held for 100 participants accepted into the program . The webinars were hosted by local and international experts on topics such as:

●    programming mobile applications (on App Inventor); ●    business plan creation, social entrepreneurship; ●    video shooting on smartphones, video editing; ●    preparation of presentations; ●    mentoring; ●    career in IT; ●    Sustainable Development Goals            

   A separate series of 12 webinars was conducted by international experts from Oracle.

_______________

About Technovation Girls

Technovation Girls is the largest and most popular technology program for girls in the world. The program has been implemented in Uzbekistan since 2016.

Technovation participants, girls 10-18 years old, from Tashkent and regions of Uzbekistan, learn to solve socially significant problems with the help of technology and create innovative mobile applications in areas related to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Teams are supported by mentors who are entrepreneurs, teachers, university students and IT specialists. Each team creates a mobile application, writes a business plan for the project, shoots a video about the project and presents their project in the final of the competition.

In 2018, a team from Uzbekistan entered the top 10 teams in the world and presented their project at the international final stage in California.

Program website in Uzbekistan: www.technovation.uz

International website: https://technovationchallenge.org/