Grant for Computer Education Program

Offering the poorest of the poor access to the kinds of career paths usually only available to well-off individuals establishes and validates women-led businesses and counters stereotypes in a male-dominant culture. While gaining access to the highly marketable skills of digital business, the computer science students will be taking their first steps into the world of 21st-century communication, gaining a firm foundation for participating in and leading their communities into the future. All the young women who will be served are among those who have been excluded from other schools because they are too poor. Besides enabling the least of these to support themselves and their families, these young women will ensure the educational futures of their children and make very desirable skills available to a broader population.

The Computer Science Institute will prepare its students to participate in various commercial services and enterprises in roles ranging from secretarial services for local communities to clerk, administrative assistant, or office manager in established businesses. While a significant number of young women have managed to complete primary and some or all of secondary school, they still need skills for secretarial or administrative jobs, cashier or billing work, web design projects, or other computer-related tasks.

As is the case with most governments, Congo business and government documents must be typed and printed, according to various prescribed forms. However, Congo itself has essentially skipped the typewriter era and moved directly to using computers. Most citizens do not have access to computers nor do they have the skills to use them, so they must find individuals or small businesses to process business or government paperwork. This means that trained young women with computers and printers can conduct a quite profitable “informal” business, perhaps in a designated area of a café or other public place, or in their own rented office.

If you would like to support organizations like Woman, Cradle of Abundance and our other partners building community and hope around the world, contact the Rev. Rebecca Kirkpatrick at RebeccaKirkpatrick@bmpc.org to learn more about the work of the Worldwide Ministries Committee.