STEMi Makers of Africa wins 2024 Elsevier Maths Science Fund
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Innovation (STEMi) Makers of Africa has won the 2024 Elsevier Mathematical Sciences Sponsorship Fund by Switzerland. The fund supports events and activities that benefit individuals and groups within the mathematical sciences community.
STEMi Country Coordinator for Ghana, Richard Mensah, expressing gratitude for the Elsevier fund, said the fund would support events and activities that benefit individuals and groups within the mathematical sciences’ community.
Mensah stated that, through the fund, STEMi Makers of Africa will organise a mathematics capacity-building bootcamp for educators and adolescent girls in Kumasi and Winneba, Ghana.
“We are thankful to commence this project and represent West Africa as we improve adolescent girls’ proficiency in mathematics,” he said
Amanda Obidike, the Executive Director of STEMi Makers of Africa, made this known in Lagos through a communiqué to pressmen. Obidike stated that STEMi Makers of Africa is an African tech-based organisation that provides project-based learning resources to foster inclusion, innovation, and empowerment among educators.
STEMi has executed many projects in 19 African countries, currently has offices in seven African countries, and is registered in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The STEMi boss said they are proud to be sponsored by the Elsevier Mathematical Sciences Sponsorship Fund to design mathematics programmes that support the increased participation of Ghanaian girls in mathematics education.
“With the fund, we would contribute to removing barriers affecting girls’ education in Ghana and other African countries,” she said.
According to her, the project is set to commence in the first quarter of 2025 towards the commitment to ensure that all adolescent girls in Africa are empowered and have the right education and skills to decide their futures. She stated that the objectives of the project include providing math-adaptive curricula to 190 educators and enhancing the learning experience for over 2,000 adolescent girls aged 13 to 17.
It also empowers educators as impact coaches to establish 70 math clubs that encourage girls to collaborate on problem-solving and research community challenges. This increases mathematical proficiency and interest among minority and out-of-school girls through mentoring and ongoing learning in STEMi mathematics clubs.
“Through this fund, we aim to increase girls’ secondary school gross enrollment to 87 per cent by 2026, and also help shift sociocultural norms that negatively impact girls,” she added.
Source: STEMi Makers Africa
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
