IT paves the way out of poverty and hopelessness for women

The social entrepreneur Barbara Mutabazi grew up in the slums of Kampala, Uganda. Early on, she understood that life was hard for women in the slums. Their lives were limited by a lack of confidence and a strong dependency on men.

Barbara studied hard at school and was awarded a scholarship to study Computer and Information Systems Management at university. In her free time, she started teaching basic IT-skills to girls in the slums who had dropped out of school and were unemployed. The girls were employed, and the idea of Women in Technology Uganda, WITU, was born.

WITU educates women between 16 and 35 years in vocational skills such as interview techniques, resume writing, IT and financial literacy, while simultaneously working actively to boost the women’s confidence – which is essential for them to learn and move forward.

During the spring of 2020, WITU and Social Initiative began collaborating. The support from Social Initiative gives WITU the possibility to scale and reach women in new slums in Kampala, as well as improving the methods for impact measurement.

Despite the corona pandemic, WITU was able to continue its operations in 2020, but with fewer participants. The support from Social Initiative gives WITU the possibility to scale and reach women in new slums in Kampala, as well as improving the methods for impact measurement.

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