Methods

A list of ten organizations tasked with the empowerment of girls through technology was curated from the Brookings Institute Global Catalog of Educational Innovations.

When selecting organizations from the catalog of innovations, our goals were to highlight key innovative practices towards empowerment of girls and women through technology, as well as to also lay out a case for leapfrogging inequality.  

In her book, Leapfrogging Inequality, author Rebecca Winthrop presents two main global education challenges, skills inequality and skills uncertainty.  “We developed the leapfrog pathway to help identify how education could meet the vision of leapfrogging—accelerating progress to address both. We hope that, together, the leapfrog pathway and its corresponding catalog of innovations can illuminate the horizon, meaning what educational transformation may look like in the future, but also what practical action for advancing leapfrogging could look like today" (Winthrop, R., Barton, A., & McGivney, E. 2018).

Leapfrogging, also known as fast-paced social and economic change, means that it is not clear exactly what skills people will need to thrive in the future and to become constructive citizens. Nonetheless, people will need to be well equipped to face uncertainty and to work collaboratively with others to solve problems and beyond. With this information for consideration, combined with our criteria, we choose the following organizations:

1. https://www.wearebgc.org/

2. https://girlswhocode.com/en-in

3. https://techgirlsglobal.org/

4. https://wtec.org.ng/w-tec-academy/

5. https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/grow-with-google/black-women-lead/

6. https://www.globalfundforwomen.org/initiatives/technologyinitiative/

7. https://www.techwomen.org/

8. https://www.undp.org/blog/innovation-and-technology-enabling-gender-equality

9. https://www.wise-qatar.org/project/la-bastilla-technical-agricultural-school/ , https://labastillanicaragua.wordpress.com/la-bastilla/

10. https://edtechhub.org/evidence/edtech-hub-research-portfolio/low-tech-personalised-learning-to-improve-girls-education-in-kenya/ 

Our final selections from the list had the following common characteristics:

1.      Key innovative practices enabling gender equality specifically for girls and women. The organization uses technology to empower girls or women address gender inequality, and promote women's leadership and mentoring.

2.      Use of  hands-on learning models such as coding bootcamps, on the job training, and apprenticeship programs to help girls or women develop the skills they need to succeed in the workforce

3.      Geared their education and training programs directly to employment skills in the classroom, virtually, or via apprenticeships.

The ten organizations selected from a pool of over three thousand, aligned with one or more of the four key aspects of the leapfrog pathway, as outlined in the publication, Can We Leapfrog?.  These aspects encompass:  Elements, encompassing fundamental elements such as learning and teaching, as well as recognizing learning, in addition to supportive elements involving people and places, as well as technology and data.  Evidence, rooted in existing evidence concerning the transformation of what and how children learn, drawing from established best practices.  Context, acknowledging that leapfrogging can manifest in diverse forms, contingent upon the specific context. The most effective leaps are those addressing skills inequality and skills uncertainty simultaneously.  Purpose, cafted not as a tool for the evaluation of individual innovations, but rather as a means to comprehend the collective endeavors of the education innovation community.

References

Winthrop, R., Barton, A., & McGivney, E. (2017). Can we Leapfrog?: The Potential of Education Innovations to Rapidly Accelerate Progress. Center for Universal Education at Brookings.

Winthrop, R., Barton, A., & McGivney, E. (2018). Leapfrogging Inequality: Remaking Education to Help Young People Thrive. Brookings Institution Press.