Kyiv, 25 April 2024 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine is launching a podcast called “Women Digitalisers” about women who work in the public sector and create electronic products for millions of Ukrainians.

The “Women Digitalisers” podcast will introduce listeners to the leaders of digital transformation, help debunk gender stereotypes about women in the tech field, and inspire even more young women not to be afraid to study IT specialities and build a career in this field.

The guests of the podcast will be specialists who work in the field of digitalisation and create public electronic services. The presenter is UNDP DIA Support project Digital Literacy Specialist and gender expert Mykola Yabchenko.

The first episode of the podcast was published for the International Day of Girls in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which is celebrated worldwide on 25 April. Mykola’s guests on the show were representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine:

• Zoriana Stetsiuk – Director of the Public Services Reengineering Directorate of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, and
• Ruslana Korenchuk – Head of the Digital Skills Development Department and the Diia.Education project.

In the first episode, they talked about:

• their professional path – how they got into the field of digitalisation and where they started their careers;
• the challenges they face in traditionally male-dominated professions;
• where to get inspiration and strength to continue implementing changes that make Ukraine one of the most tech-innovative countries in the world.

Podcast episodes will be published once a month. You can listen to the “Women Digitalisers” podcast on the UNDP's YouTube channel, as well as on the Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Megogo and Amazon Music platforms. The project is being implemented by the UNDP in Ukraine, with financial support from Sweden as part of the DIA Support project.

The International Day of Girls in ICT is celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of April. This is an initiative of the International Telecommunication Union, a UN partner, aimed at raising awareness of the need to increase the share of women in the field of ICT and to encourage girls and young women to choose these professions.

The UNDP systematically supports gender initiatives that promote an increase in the representation of women in ICT. Thus, in 2022, the UN agency supported the Projector Institute initiative to provide scholarships for women to study creative specialities. In addition, the UNDP in Ukraine previously organised the Internship Programme at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine for girls in STEM, as well as the Leadership Programme for women involved in digitalisation processes. The second phase of the programme started in April 2024. It is being implemented in partnership with the CDTO Campus.

Media inquiries

Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Team Leader, yuliia.samus@undp.org