New program in Pakistan aims to empower women through digital skills bootcamps

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Women looking to boost their digital skills have a particularly difficult time of it in Pakistan. There’s a critical lack of bootcamps that teach things like coding, digital marketing, and product design. To aggravate the situation, conservative attitudes mean some women aren’t allowed to attend mixed classes or venture too far from home.

Of course, there’s the option of learning online but many prefer a classroom environment, which gives the necessary impetus to stay on course.

SheSkills is launching the first of what it hopes to be many digital skills bootcamps aimed at women. The driving force behind the project is Saad Hamid, a self-described digital evangelist and an influencer in Pakistan’s tech community.

“The concept of SheSkills came during a recent storytelling workshop which we conducted exclusively for women,” he says. “At the end of it we were overwhelmed with requests from girls who wanted to learn skills like coding, digital marketing, and design.”

Saad says one of the reasons they’re embarking on this initiative is an overall drive to get more women into tech. Not only is that better for diversity and output, it will also help participants pursue freelance work and entrepreneurial endeavors.

A study conducted by the Pakistan Software Houses Association estimated that in 2012, women made up only 14 percent of the tech industry in the country. There are even fewer in senior management positions.

“Other than the stats, it’s also something I’m extremely passionate about,” he exclaims.

The program has been developed with assistance from Ladies Learning Code and Women Techmakers. It’s open to women across ages and backgrounds looking to boost digital skills.

It’s a six-week long bootcamp, with a blend of online and offline learning paradigms. There will be physical classes once a week, in the capital city of Islamabad, but also daily activities and assignments as homework.

Advisors to the program.

Onwards and upwards

“What we’re trying to do is teach them basic digital skills first and upskill later. The aim is to help them build businesses, either by developing their own products, or working on behalf of clients,” outlines Saad.

A new module is taught each week, starting from helping them understand the program and moving on to things like HTML & CSS, digital marketing through Google and Facebook, as well as storytelling.