On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, the non-profit organization TechnoWomen will hold the final of the IT-AIEL 2.0 program and present new programs, internships, grants and other opportunities for girls and women in ICT for 2025.
This event is held with the support of the National Commission on Women, Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which promotes the agenda and initiated the development of an action plan to expand women’s economic opportunities in the digital economy.
The IT-Aiel 2.0 project has been implemented for the second year and is aimed at improving the digital competencies of unemployed women and women on maternity leave. “Last year, 2,634 women from all over Kazakhstan applied for participation within the IT-Aiel program, seeking to change their lives with the help of IT. Among them were more than 900 unemployed women, more than 400 mothers on maternity leave, 500 students and 700 self-employed women. Graduates of the first stream were able to create their own IT products, such as websites and applications, which became an important step towards their financial independence and professional growth. This year, as part of the second stream of the program, women will also be able to gain new perspectives that will help them build a successful career and contribute to the development of society,” said Aziza Shuzheeva, member of the National Commission for Women and Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“According to a survey of graduates of the first stream of “IT-Aiel”, a year after training, their income increased by an average of 45%, and for many, their lives changed almost radically,” noted Astana Hub Manager Daniya Akhmetova.
On June 10, 2024, the second stream of the “IT Aiel 2.0” project was launched. Within the framework of the IT-Aiel program, women were trained in none-code programming and the possibilities of selling their services on Kazakhstani and foreign freelance platforms, the basics of trading on electronic marketplaces, etc. “Our goal is to increase the number of women in the ICT sector to 45% in the coming years. Today, about 30% of women work in the industry, but this is not the limit. Digitalization is a “blue ocean” for our girls, so we want to support women in all technological fields,” said Bikesh Kurmangaliyeva, Member of the Board of TechnoWomen. In 2024, the number of applications submitted was 5151, the largest number of participants were from the cities of Astana and Almaty, as well as the Almaty and West Kazakhstan regions.
“Graduates of the first stream were able to create their own IT products, such as websites and applications, which was an important step towards their financial independence and professional growth. This year, as part of the second stream of the program, women were able to gain new perspectives in e-commerce training, which will help them build a successful career and contribute to the development of society,” said Alua Korpebaeva, Member of the Board of TechnoWomen. E-commerce opens up great opportunities for women. According to research conducted by Euromonitor International and KPMG, the e-commerce market size in 2023 was 1.3 trillion tenge. But despite the growing e-commerce market, women artisans, representatives of SMEs do not have access to large electronic trading platforms.
Aliya Orazymbetova, finalist of the first stream of IT-AIEL, author of the CyberBala project: “When I was on maternity leave in 2023, I participated in the IT-Aiel project, which allowed women to undergo free training in IT specialties and work remotely, while maintaining a balance between work and family. As a result of the training, I created the CyberBala project, a bot assistant for digital hygiene and prevention of cyberbullying among children and adolescents, which I implemented using no code tools, I am now the leader of TechnoWomen Astana, and I also develop social projects on robotics for women and girls at Robotek.kz
Also in the final conference program:
- Inspiring speeches by TechnoWomen members: success stories in cybersecurity, robotics and digital technologies
- Pitching of IT-AIEL 2.0 finalist projects and awarding of certificates
- Summing up the results of the year and announcing plans for 2025 TechnoWomen
- Awarding of active participants and letters of gratitude to partners
- Presentations of new projects, grants, internship programs and accelerators for 2025
The activities of the National Commission on Women’s Affairs and the Family and Demographic Commission under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan are aimed at involving women in productive employment, including through involving women in the digital economy. With the support of the National Commission, the projects “TechGirls”, “IT-Aiel” are being implemented to involve girls and women in IT, support women’s startups, etc. In March 2023, Kazakhstan’s best practices in developing digitalization and new technologies with the participation of women were presented at the 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York.
The activities of the non-profit organization “TechnoWomen” Non-profit Organization since 2022 are related to improving the number of girls and women in the field of information technology, as well as other technology industries. The NPO actively supports and develops themes of women’s leadership. Its activities are designed to transform the situation in the industry and create equal opportunities for all its participants. More details: www.technowomen.kz
Astana Hub is the largest international technopark of IT startups, where conditions are created for the free development of Kazakhstani and foreign IT companies. The global mission of Astana Hub is to become a center for the development of innovative projects, release breakthrough IT companies, and also become a hotbed for attracting young and talented IT specialists from all over the world. More information: www.astanahub.com
Time and place:
December 10, 2024
09:00 — registration starts
Astana, Korgalzhyn Highway, 13a, Coventry University Kazakhstan, 2nd floor, office 204
Registration: Link
Media contact +7 700 271 0181, Balzhan, technowomen2022@gmail.com