US State Department seeks to educate North African girls on technology: The United States is starting an exchange

US State Department seeks to educate North African girls on technology Jul 12th, 2011 | By Jahd Khalil |
The United States is starting an exchange program to assist women ascendant in the fields of Science and Technology, American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Wednesday.
“We want to make sure that all the tools that technology has made available are just as open to women as they are to men,” Clinton told a luncheon of those participating it he program.


“Innovation thrives on good ideas, and women have a lot of good ideas.”
The Program will bring 38 women from the Middle East and North Africa to a 5-week workshop in Silicon Valley. Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco will each send delegates.
The first group has already arrived in Silicon Valley this past June to meet women who are industry leaders, who will serve as mentors for the MENA-based tech stars. Mentors come from a variety of industries, ranging from computing giants Microsoft, IBM, and HP to social networking companies like Twitter and Facebook that recently shot to stardom.
The program’s website lists the program’s genesis as President Barack Obama’s goal of increased cooperation, which was outlined in his speech of 2009.
The program also seeks to encourage English language education through mobile apps, as well as civil societies that are enabled by technology to advocate political and economic reform. Clinton labeled these efforts as “21st century statecraft.”