Thanks in part to your ongoing support, the Develop Africa Sierra Leone (DASL) team along with African Girls Code launched an eight-week pilot program to provide free coding. 

The purpose was to introduce African girls to the male-dominated world of programming and encourage young women to pursue a future in computer science and other STEM-related fields.

31 secondary school-aged girls in Freetown, Sierra Leone participated in the pilot program. 

The goals for this pilot launch were to:

Provide a safe and supportive environment where girls can learn to see themselves as future programmers, computer scientists, and leaders.
Teach girls the concepts of loops, variables, conditionals, and functions that form the basics of all programming languages.
Empower participants to complete a computer science impact project that solves a real-world problem in their community.

You can see more photos in the African Girl Code album

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Served 31 girls
97% overall satisfaction with our course
92% response rate indicating future interest in pursuing a career in computer science
95% attendance rate

Your support helped to cover training expenses - generator fuel, staff time, supplies, transportation for the girls, etc. 

We are so very thankful that we were able to help provide this exposure to them.

To support computer training and support girls with their education, please consider setting up a recurring donation if you aren't already supporting girls' education.  Even a few dollars a month will go a long way. Consistent support is the key as this is the best way to ensure ongoing impact.