World ORT Kadima Mada trains female university students in Ghana to teach coding, animation and other science and technology skills to young girls.

Frances Etornam Goba is 10 years old and lives with her father in Elmina, Ghana. Hoping to be a physician when she grows up, Frances is eager to learn all the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) she possibly can.

So when she saw a notice on her school bulletin board about an optional STEM class, and heard more about it from her science teacher, she ran to sign up.

The class was sponsored by Jewish values-driven global education network World ORT through its World ORT Kadima Mada science and technology education program in Israel.

Kadima Mada (loosely translated as “Science Journey”) creates and implements cutting-edge curriculums in formal and informal settings for disadvantaged populations in Israel and in more than 30 other countries.

The Ghana program, first piloted in one school in 2020, teaches young girls coding, game design and animation using Scratch coding software for kids and Arduino hardware kits.

Frances, a member of the second cohort, said the course increased her confidence and now she wants to code all the time.

“If I continue to learn STEM and coding, I will be able to develop my own animation programs in the future,” she said.

“We wanted instructors who would be inspiring role models. But there aren’t that many women studying in these fields in Ghana. Eventually we chose eight instructors for the pilot.”

Each received a stipend from WORLD ORT Kadima Mada and Coconut Grove.

A cultural hiccup

The women gathered in the Elmina library for three full days of professional development led by two Israeli instructors on Zoom.

Leiba got a lesson in local culture when he introduced the program on the first day.

“When I finished my short talk in English, I asked for questions, but nobody said anything. I felt a bit awkward.”

Leiba later approached Victor Opoku Minta, general manager of Coconut Grove, to inquire whether he had erred in speaking in English. Perhaps the women didn’t understand him?

Minta assured Leiba that English is indeed an official language in Ghana. The problem is that Ghanian women are trained not to speak up.

“So I had a meeting with Celeste about how to give these students presentation skills and not only technical skills,” says Leiba. “Our local partner organized a workshop on this on our behalf.”

Image: Frances Etornam Goba, 10, learning coding with instructor Josephine Eshun. Photo courtesy of World ORT