By Wallace Mawire, In Victoria Falls.
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – The United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) sponsored Africa Engineering week being held in Zimbabwe’s resort town of Victoria Falls on 14 to 19 September, 2015 opened with intensified calls from local and visiting delegates for increased participation of women and especially the girls child in the engineering sector.
Running under the theme : Engineering innovation for accelerated infrastructure development for Africa, post 2015, the engineering week is being hosted by Zimbabwe under the auspices of the Engineering Council of Zimbabwe (ECZ).
According to an ECZ spokesperson, 46 African countries are attending the event with strong participation mainly coming from Nigeria and South Africa including Tunisia.
In his key note address to the conference focusing on engineering the future for sustainable development, Dr Hubert Gijzen, Regional Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa said that more young people need to take up engineering careers and making that choice depends on access to the necessary science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum.
“We need more engineering and more engineers. The shortage of engineers is a major concern in Africa and across the world where there has been declining interest and enrolment of young people, especially women,” Gijzen said.
It is also reported that during the course of the event, students from schools will participate in educational activities to get a clearer view on what engineering is.
World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) President, Engineer Marwan Abdelmahid said that ongoing activities by his organization in many parts of the world to promote engineering include mentoring activities for girls, talking to a class of high school
girls about engineering careers and inviting a group of girls to tour engineering companies.
Engineering Council of Zimbabwe (ECZ) Chairperson, Engineer Martin Manuhwa said that as the world adopts the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) this year, it is vital to encourage students to study engineering.
“School children should be exposed to career guidance and mentoring by seasoned engineering practitioners,” Manuhwa said.
The inaugural day of the Africa Engineering week 2015 culminated in the launch of the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE) Women in Engineering (WIE) division. Other discussions to promote women’s participation in engineering focused on the status of women in engineering in SADC by Herna Vallabh, Co-Founder of Women Engineer in South Africa and a global Technical women programme presented by Berverly Nyakutzika of an organization called (GZweIE).
According to Engineer Farai Mavhiya-Bhiza, Vice Chairperson of the ZIE, the recently launched ZIE Women in Engineering division aims to encourage women’s participation in engineering and to mentor and support young women in the engineering sector.
ZIE CEO Dr Sanzan Diarra said at the launch of the women in engineering division that it has been in existence for the past three years. The division has also been visiting schools to encourage the girl child to enter the profession. He said that more effort is needed to bring on board female engineers.
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