Ana Dankman
23
Tel Aviv, Israel

Women's Empowerment Programme Means Business

Teaching women IT skills, particularly in deprived areas, is a cornerstone of the Networking Academy. Throughout the world, women are under-represented in IT and access to a career in the industry can be a fast-track out of poverty for many.

The WEP (Women's Empowerment Programme) is a scheme that seeks to help redress inequality, especially for women in difficult economic or social circumstances.

Ana Dankman is 23 years old and lives in one of the toughest areas of Tel Aviv, Israel. As a married mother of two, she despaired at ever going to college. "I wanted to start my higher education but soon realised that because of my financial status it would never happen. I simply couldn't afford it," she explains.

Ana worked selling clothes in the local shopping mall in 2006. Her fortunes changed when she spotted a WEP recruitment advert in her local paper. Within a year she was a qualified NetAcad WEP instructor herself.

"On the course, they always told me that 'If I want to, I can do anything'," she says.

She started studying at the WEP NetAcad in Tel Aviv and soon rediscovered her love of learning together with a sense of independence and self-fulfillment. "I enjoyed every minute of the course. When I left my house to go to the academy I felt I was doing something for myself for the first time in years."

Ana found the course demanding, but that was part of the attraction. She explains that: "For me, the course was like a gym for the brain. You are always looking forward to the next lesson. It's almost like an addiction!"

One of the factors that can allow women like Ana to study at her Networking Academy is the provision of childcare. Area Academy Manager for Israel, Ifat Baron explains: "We noticed that the mothers were coming to the course with their young children as they couldn't afford to pay for a baby-sitter. So we recruited a local teacher, and now the teacher can play with the kids and help then with their homework."

Thanks to this sensitive approach to the specific needs of its students, the NetAcad has allowed women to find opportunities previously denied to them, increasing their self-confidence and economic power.

Ana's family is as proud as she is about her achievement. "When I heard about the Programme I knew that this was a way for me to do something with my life," she says. "My husband keeps saying he can’t believe I’ve done it. And my grandmother tells all her friends that her granddaughter is amazing!"