\nBreaking Barriers with Tech Education for Women in Afghanistan<\/span><\/h2>\n
Fereshteh Forough<\/h2>\nWednesday, February 21, 2024 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm
\nat the Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215<\/h3>\n
\nat the Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215<\/h3>\n
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Free and Open to the Public! Please register by scanning the QR code above.<\/strong><\/p>\n About the Speaker:<\/strong> <\/span>[from https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fereshteh_Forough<\/a>]<\/p>\n Fereshteh Forough<\/b>\u00a0is an\u00a0<\/span>Afghan\u00a0<\/span>social activist and is the CEO and founder of Code to Inspire (CTI),<\/strong> the first coding school for girls inAfghanistan. She is also an advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women in developing countries through digital literacy, education, and financial independence.\u00a0<\/span>She earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science from\u00a0<\/span>Herat University<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and later a master’s from\u00a0<\/span>Technical University of Berlin<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in Germany. <\/sup>After obtaining her master’s degree and returning to Herat, Forough became a professor of computer science at Herat University, her\u00a0<\/span>alma mater, where she worked for almost three years.<\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>Before founding Code to Inspire in January 2015, Forough was also a co-founder and board member of Women’s Annex Foundation.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>Now known as\u00a0<\/span>Digital Citizen Fund<\/a>, this organization is a non-profit that teaches girls and women\u00a0<\/span>digital literacy<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and works to provide access to technology and the internet to girls in developing countries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Code to Inspire<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(CTI) opened the first all-female coding school in Afghanistan in November 2015. CTI, based in Herat, is a non-profit, one-year In this talk, Forough illuminates the transformative journey of empowering Afghan women through tech education and explores the groundbreaking initiatives of Code to Inspire, the first coding school for girls in Afghanistan. Unlocking the Code: Breaking Barriers with Tech Education for Women in Afghanistan Fereshteh Forough Wednesday, February 21, 2024 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7613,7614,7617],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14880"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14985,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions\/14985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/asian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/asian\/files\/2024\/01\/Fereshteh-Forough-photo-portrait-477x636.png\")
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program.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Women and girls in the program are typically between 15 and 25 years of age.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Forough saw a need for an exclusively female coding school when she herself was studying and faced discrimination from male peers.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0She set up an\u00a0<\/span>IndieGoGo<\/a>\u00a0and was able to raise over $22,000\u00a0<\/span>USD\u00a0to help fund the coding school.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0CTI also received funding from other organizations, such as the\u00a0<\/span>Malala<\/a>\u00a0Fund and\u00a0<\/span>GitHub<\/a>, as well as 20 laptop computers from\u00a0<\/span>Overstock.com<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0The goal in establishing CTI was to allow girls to learn valuable technological skills in a safe, comfortable environment. These girls are also able to build their resumes, which can lead to greater job opportunities after graduation.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0More advanced students learn how to create mobile apps and educational games, while those less experienced learn the basics of coding as well as other technological skills, such as how to use social media.<\/span>\u00a0In 2016, CTI was the recipient of\u00a0<\/span>University of California, Berkeley‘s\u00a0<\/span>CITRIS<\/a>\u00a0Athena “Next Generation Engagement Award.”<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0In the same year, CTI was awarded Google’s RISE Award, which granted the organization $25,000 USD.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Forough has voiced her desire to open new branches of Code to Inspire in other cities in Afghanistan, as well as in countries throughout the Middle East and Africa.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"