SAWomEng - motivating, empowering & celebrating the next generation of women in engineering
Location
Advocating,empowering & educating females about engineering through 3 divisions.GirlEng:High school students r exposed to careers in engineering.They engage in a mini project & assigned female univeristy mentors.Conference,brings top university students together.They engage in a techical project,finding innovative engineering solutions to social needs.@network focus on development of young grads
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
naadiya
Last Name
moosajee
Website
Country
South Africa
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
Organization Name
South African WOmen in Enigneering
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+27833902915
Organization Address
60 Fifth Ave, Rondebosch East, Cape Town, 7780
Organization Country
South Africa
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has this organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Your idea
Name Your Project
SAWomEng - motivating, empowering & celebrating the next generation of women in engineering
Describe Your Idea
Advocating,empowering & educating females about engineering through 3 divisions.GirlEng:High school students r exposed to careers in engineering.They engage in a mini project & assigned female univeristy mentors.Conference,brings top university students together.They engage in a techical project,finding innovative engineering solutions to social needs.@network focus on development of young grads
Country your work focuses on
South Africa
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
The progams vision is to increase the number of women in engineering.Globally women make up 20% of engineers, in South Africa, its only 13%.SAWomEng is the only project focussed on the entire pipeline,from high school through to young women in engineering.Our progams in itself create a culture of innovation & showcase the potential of young women to find innovative solutions to issues such as sustainable development,alternative energy etc.Our divisions include mentorship of young women from high school level into engineering study.At GirlEng,our students come from different backgrounds,rural schools, urban schools & disadvantged communities.We partner with sponsoring companies to showcase bursary & employment opportunities for the females participating in our programs.Our aim is to give women equal opportnunity to access engineering as a career,and once qualified, provide education and development of both personal and career goals.Our idea is all encompassing stratergy to revolutionise the face of enigneering.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Yes
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Tell us about the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
GirlEng:launched in 2009, 300 female high school students engaged in our workshops.In 2010, we are increasing our advocay and education initiative through open sessions targeting aproximately 3000 female students.We will then select 300 to send to our targeted workshops.With these female students returning for a follow -up mentorship event
Conference:Since 2005, 350 Female engineering students have participated in our program.Many students attend the conference are recruited by our sponsoring companies. One such person in Lethabo. She volunteered to be on the SAWomEng organisng team in 2006. She subsequently got recruited by our one of our sponsoring companies, and returned tre following year as a mentor. Her story is not unique, the same can be said for Anastasha and Zama. Both attend SAWomEng conferences, and returned as sponsor comapny representatives to mentor female students. It is exactly what the SAWomEng philosophy is about
Problem: Describe the primary problem(s) that your innovation is addressing
The shortage of engineers is a global issue. The number of women in engineering has been of particular concern as women are still grossly under-represented, with the percentage of women graduates in engineering still below 20% in many countries. According to many commentators,growth in the areas of science, engineering and technology could be the catalyst for job creation,
social upliftment and economic development. Perhaps even more significantly, there has been a failure to capitalise effectively on our most under-utilised resource: women. In order to address the massive skill shortages experienced, and simultaneously promote progressive thinking in this arena, it is vital that tomorrow’s future captains of industry are at the core of this process. SAWomEng provides the platform to address the engineering skills shortage through our 3 core programs
Actions: Describe the steps that you are taking to make your innovation a success. What might prevent that success?
In order to make the organisation a success, SAWomEng has a strategic vision and a 7 member national executive to run the different divisions of the organisation. We constantly reevaluate the impact, the goals and activities to achieve those goals to ensure that targets are me. We have invloved a variery of corporate sponsors who fund the organisation, but we also look at ways to make the organisation more self sufficient.
The biggest obstacle to success, is current cash flow. We often run projects before our sponsors commit to funding, and this makes the organisation financially vulnerable.
Results: Describe the expected results of these actions over the next three years. Please address each year separately, if possible
Our ultimate goal is to increase the number of students applying for engineering from our GirlEng program
Through our SAWomEng conference program we hope to attract more female egineeirng students into the engineering industry
Through our @Network program we are hoping to provide career guidance and personal development to female engineers
How many people will your project serve annually?
1001‐10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$100 ‐ 1000
Does your innovation seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
If your innovation seeks to impact public policy, how?
Our prgrams aim to impact ploicy in terms of skills development, espcially in the education and science and technology arena
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
Does your organization have a board of directors or an advisory board?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with NGOs?
No
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how partnerships could be critical to the success of your innovation
Our partnerships create support and awareness. With personal relationships with the marketing manager of the chamber of commerce in the western cape province, we are provided with advice, and direction on how to make our programs more effective.
Our current partnerships with governement is at the extent that in 200, we had both the National Minister of Public Works and the National Minister of Science and Technology give addresses at the event.
We would like to learn more about how your initiative is financially supported. Please explain your business plan/revenue model
Currently, our organisation recieves funding from corporate sponsorship. The list of sponsors for 2009 includes BHP Billiton, Unilever,Council for the Built Environement, Council for Scientific Research, Denel, Volgswagen South Africa, Arcus Gibb, PetroSA. In 2010, we will keep our corporate sponsorship, but include ticket sales to our networking workshops at the @network programs
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
I was in my third year studying a civil engineering degree.After 3 years, getting bogged down in the maths & science of it all, I felt very detached from engineering, and I forgot why I wanted to study engineering in the first place:to make a difference in the world. I was about to give it all up and work in an alternate industry, when a friend of mine, came to me, after feeling the same way. She had this idea to help female students like ourselves become passionate again about engineering. I turned to her and told her, she had my full support. Together we put together the 5 core areas where we felt the greatest change could be made, and we have been growing ever since.
Tell us about the person—the social innovator—behind this idea.
There are 2 social innovators:mabohlale mampuru & naadiya moosajee.Mabo is the dreamer and naadiya is the executer.Naadiya:She is a self-confessed shopaholic & social entrepreneur whose passion lies at motivating young people. In 2006, she was selected as one of the Top 100 Brightest Young Minds in South Africa & completed her BSc civil engineering egree at the University of Cape Town(UCT). June 2009,graduated with her master’s degree in Transport Engineering from UCT,after spending a semester atUniversity of Stuttgart, Germany.She is the recipient of a 2009/10 YoutActionNet Global Youth Leadership Fellowship,2009 CEO magazine Most Influential Women of the Year& Mail&Guardian magazines top 300 young people.She works as a transport engineer, while holding the position of SAWomEng National Operations Coordinator & Financial Director.She worked as LEADGlobal Engineering Director.Naadiya’s other passions lie in traveling, spending time with her family and friends, shopping&cooking. She is determined to change the world, even if it is just by helping one person at a time.Mabohlale is a dreamer of note. She has all these bold ideas to change the world, and works relentlessly to make them a reality. She traveled to Prague to attend the International Youth Leadership Conference and was part of a small student exchange group to Tanzania. She resided on a number of forums including the Black Management Forum. Mabohlale graduated from UCT with a BSc Civil Engineering degree, & in the same year was selected as one of the top 100 brightest young minds in South Africa. She then began working as a civil engineer. She worked on major infrastructure projects, while simultaneously coordinating the GirlEng program. She is 2009 Mail&Guardian magazines top 300 young people you have to take to lunch and in 2010 has embarked on her MSc degree. Her hope is to one day make a larger contribution in the development sector.She plays the flute
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Newsletter from Changemakers
If through another source, please provide the information
ICRW
Does your project address any of the following barriers to women’s technology access and use?
Social norms, Women’s lack of involvement in the technology development process.
If you checked any of the boxes above, please explain how.
OUr organisation challenges the sterotypical role engineering being a male-only profession, but showcasing the potential as industry.
By increasing the number of women in engineering, our hope is to embark on careers in the field of engineering and become designers and imlementers of technology,infrastructure and all serives provided by engineers
Does your project involve women in one or more of the following stages of the technology lifecycle? Identification of the problem the technology will solve:
Technology design.
If you checked any of the boxes above, please explain how you will ensure women’s involvement in each relevant phase of the technology lifecycle.
Engineers are the designers of technology, and this is why we promote innovative thinking and women in engineering
If women are a focus of your project, how did this focus evolve?
The project focused on women from its conception..
Which type of women will your project reach directly?
Rural, Peri-urban, Urban, Low income, Middle income.
In what ways does your project team/leadership involve women?
It is led by a woman/women from a developing country..
Has your organization formed any new partnerships in response to this challenge? If so, with what type/s of organization/s?
Other.
Has your project leadership had prior experience with the following?
Working with women, Working to increase women's economic empowerment through technology.
