Pakistan listed in top five at #TechWomen19

If you could solve one problem in your country, what would it be was a question asked at the beginning of #techwomen19 as emerging leaders gathered to present their action plan and the process of strategising the solution to that one problem.

Team Pakistan not only presented but was also listed amongst the top five pitches. Their initiative was Bacha-o which reflected the problem of child sexual abuse using a digital platform. Their mission is to make every child safe which has been on a rise as per the recent report by the Pakistani government.

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Congrats to the #Pakistan team who won their entrepreneurship pitch during the @ECAatState @TechWomen in #California! The 5-member team won the pitch competition for their project designed to reduce child abuse in Pakistan through technology. #STEM #USPAK #USinPAK #USEmbassyISB pic.twitter.com/9M5PRUCfCd

— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) November 3, 2019

The team plans to create a portal to promote the awareness of this issue and take more from the ‘Mera Bacha’ which is an existing government portal for reporting child sexual abuse cases.

PHOTO: TWITTER

“We will manufacture wristbands for child protection, create community hubs and an AI chatbot for children, and deliver training for parents and teachers on recognizing and reporting child abuse,” said the team in their interview to TechWomen.

During the action planning process, the teams showcased their projects alongside Impact Coaches and developed their cases over the duration of four weeks. The teams were then given a chance to then win themselves a seed-grant that would support them in implementing their projects back home.



While other teams also presented innovative ideas that were a problem in their relevant countries. Team Kazakhstan was hoping to open their country’s first-ever interactive science exhibition for kids, Team South Africa was looking to educate the young men about gender violence in their country. Team Lebanon addressed the country’s water crisis and wanted to develop science-based groundwater quality management and guidelines. And finally, Team Zimbabwe was looking to support and encourage girls with disabilities to participate in STEM.

Team Pakistan comprised of Asmara Rahat, Asna Javed, Ayesha Mumtaz Khan, Farhat Yasmeen, and Zeenat Anjum with expertise ranging from IT to AI and digital media.

The TechWomen program has seen 10 fellows since 2017 from Pakistan with impactful stories in hopes of empowering women and young girls especially.