In December 2022, African Women in Technology hosted a conference with Stars from All Nations in Accra, Ghana to help new entrepreneurs tackle a range of community challenges. Participants included a computer scientist who provides weekend classes for children in a remote fishing village who can’t attend school. Her ambition was to build a more permanent educational facility. A participant from the healthcare sector wanted to find ways to erase the stigma of menstruation in her community.
Andrew Webster, ExperiencePoint’s V.P. of Innovation, empowered participants to use human-centered design as they approached their problems. After several iterations, the computer scientist developed a model for a learning hub in her community that would allow children to read and support one another in their spare time. The process triggered an epiphany for the healthcare professional; she realized that she’d need to educate all of society, and not just people who menstruate, to erase stigmas.
Participants were so inspired by the plan for a community learning hub that they established a support group on WhatsApp, and are looking into how they can collect books and advance the education project. The healthcare professional is developing a program for menstruation education and an initiative that would schedule gynecology appointments at the onset of menstruation. Meanwhile, AWIT was so pleased with Andrew’s contribution that he is now on their Board of Directors.
