Under the auspices of the Minister of Communications and Informations Technology." The Future of Women's Empowerment in the Era of Digital Transformation" Held Under the Theme "Qudwah-Tech: Towards a Sustainable Impact"

Project : Qodwa .Tech

Under the slogan "Qudwah-Tech: Towards a Sustainable Impact", the Ministry of Communications and Informations Technology (MCIT-Egypt) organized the annual celebration of "The Future of Women's Empowerment in the Era of Digital Transformation" for the year 2023, which is held in an annual tradition in conjunction with the international and local celebrations of International Women's Day during the month of March of each year.
During the opening session, Eng. Hoda Dahroug, Advisor to the Minister for Digital Community Development and Director of the Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development Project in Egypt, delivered a speech in which she stressed the efforts made by the state to achieve digital empowerment of women and build their capabilities to support their role in the surrounding communities, and provide them with the opportunity to obtain distinguished opportunities in the world of the digital economy. She also addressed MCIT investment strategy to build human within its digital transformation plan, in light of the transition to the new republic, and the need to consolidate the use of informations and communications technology as a key pillar of the development process, noting the most important initiatives launched by MCIT aimed at building the capacities and qualifying large numbers of youth through digital platforms through which different groups of society are addressed. She also noted the comprehensive digital transformation plan, the reflections of the new technological environment on women's opportunities in the digital sector, and the necessary to give them more skills and knowledge to keep pace with these transformations.  She referred to the President's instructions on the need to transfer and localize technology in the fields of digital transformation, the development of training systems and artificial intelligence, and the establishment of centers for artificial intelligence applications and supercomputing to enable youth to absorb the latest technological techniques and interact with them to enter the labor market. Mr. Sylvain Merlin, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Egypt, delivered a speech in which he referred to the role of UNDP in raising awareness about the opportunities available to women in the digital economy sector, in shadow of the efforts made at the international level for the social and economic empowerment of women, and the engagement of all digitally to achieve gender equality, which is the slogan from which this year's celebrations of International Women's Day are launched based on the Millennium Development Goals.

Dr. Ehab Abu Bakr, Assistant Chairman of National Postal Authority for Digital Transformation, delivered a speech in which he addressed the strategy of developing Egypt Post services, which adopts the latest technological systems and smart solutions, and the services it provides vary between postal services, local and international remittances, correspondence and parcel services, express mail and shipping, and financial services such as microfinance for small business owners, in addition to providing Digital Egypt services to meet the needs of all categories of citizens, especially women who own micro-enterprises and craftswomen, and make it is easy for them to market their projects.
Eng. Rehab Yahya, Deputy Director of the Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development Project in Egypt, gave a presentation that included the follow-up of the activities of the Qudwah Tech initiative in the digital empowerment of craftswomen in all governorates of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in the fields of digital marketing and e-commerce, and complementary technological topics and opportunities provided by the initiative for women to face economic challenges through electronic platforms for self-employment.
The celebration included a presentation of a short documentary film about the most important activities provided by the Qudwah-Tech initiative during 2022, examples of the successful stories highlighted by the initiative, and how it contributed to making an economic and social impact in the various Egyptian governorates and its role in increasing digital job opportunities for women in society, and the opening session witnessed honoring a number of successful models of distinguished women (influential role models) for their contributions to enhancing sustainable environmental and societal impact in production and marketing during the year 2022.
The celebration was also honored by honoring a number of experts and representatives of the partners of the Qudwah-Tech initiative, where the role of experts and partners in enhancing the digital skills of the initiative's beneficiaries of handicrafts and heritage were appreciated. During the second session of the event entitled (The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Technology on Craft Fields), which was managed by Dr. Sumaya Bahey El-Din, an expert in the field of artificial intelligence and metavirus, and Mr. Mohammed Al-Harthy, Information Technology and Digital Media Consultant, the most prominent opportunities and challenges related to artificial intelligence technology and its effects on the development of innovation in projects were discussed.
And how craftswomen and small business owners can benefit from this technology in the fields of digital marketing, design and brand development. It is worth mentioning that the Qudwah-Tech initiative, launched by MCIT, has provided digital support to more than 7,000 beneficiaries of craftswomen and entrepreneurs in the craft and service fields by building their digital skills and training on digital marketing, e-commerce platforms, and specialized freelance platforms, through the graduation of 44 groups from the governorates of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in addition to organizing 48 advisory sessions and awareness seminars on topics related to complementary skills for digital marketing and e-commerce, represented in the market study, managing projects and products design, financial management, pricing, photography, shipping and packaging, and raising their awareness of the importance of integrating environmental standards for the green economy into sustainable production, consumption and marketing.