TECH KARO

ABOUT TECH KARO

CIRCLE firmly believes that investing in women is the smartest economic venture of today.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020 ranks Pakistan 151 out of 153 countries. In Pakistan, as high as 68% female graduates do not join the workforce and women who do enter the economy are underrepresented in senior management positions or on boards. Furthermore Pakistan has only 26% women in its formal work force which is one of the lowest in the region.

Women have been declining in the tech industry, worldwide. By 2043 at the current trend less than 1% of the global tech workforce will be female. In Pakistan, women represent only 14% of the IT workforce and 13% of IT managers (P@SHA, 2012).

To tackle the gender parity issue in the tech field and to create a pipeline of women in tech, CIRCLE has been running technological training for young girls from under served communities under the Tech Karo initiative. CIRCLE in collaboration with EngoVoPak, Engro Foundation and WeConnectFoundation has initiated #TechKaro, a program that brings technology, coding, web development, digital marketing and graphic design combined with life skills (discipline, resilience, problem solving, financial planning) to women to enable them to increase their livelihood, and generate positive impact for their families and communities.

#TechKaro has two different divisions in Karachi, on in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in collaboration with Usman Institute of Technology and on in Lyari, in partnership with Lyari Girls Café.

CODING AND WEB DEVELOPMENT (U.I.T.)

The #TechKaro 8 months web development program at UIT aims to teach students coding and web development through soft wares like:HTML,REACT, CSS3, Java script programming, and Mobile Web Apps.

PLACEMENTS THROUGH TECH KARO:

2018 Cohort: 50 graduates, 62% women, 30+ placed in jobs and internships

2019 Cohort(on-going): 75 grads, 66% women, 38 internships placements and 5 freelancers

STUDENTS WHO MADE  IT BIG!

Meet the top 3 Tech Karo  2018 Batch students who have landed jobs at leading tech companies.

DIGITAL MARKETING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN (LYARI)

CIRCLE’s Tech Karo initiative in Lyari in partnership with Lyari Girls’ café, aims to provide Digital Marketing  and graphic designing skills to young women from underserved communities to help them become freelancers.

The aim is to bridge the digital gender and economic divide and leverage the power of technology for economic transformation of families and communities. 

Locals say that there are more than 70 community centers within Lyari, however not a single one opens doors for women. By setting up a digital literacy class exclusively for women, CIRCLE  aims to make them freelancers so that they can become financially stable but also create a safe space where women are welcomed, can learn skills and grow.

The program is a four month program with 40+ women who are trained with life skills such as leadership, confidence building and career enhancement self-learning tools.

#TECHKARO AT A GLANCE 2018-19

• In the past two years, CIRCLE in partnership with EngroVopak, Engro Foundation and WeConnect, has successfully completed three technological training programs whereby teaching tech and life skills
• FreeCodeCamp certifications were introduced to students, which is a globally recognized certification for Web Developers.
• 170 young girls and boys from underserved communities (65% female) and placing over 50% of the graduates in jobs and internships to enable them to increase their livelihood.
•  90% of the students were able to access a computer and an internet connection at home
• 40% of the non-CS students developed tech skills on video editing, graphic design and wordpress
• 70% of the students hail from households with an income below 40k/month
• 98% of the students said they will contribute towards their household income after  being placed on completing the course

TECH KARO IS SUPPORTED AND SPONSORED BY: