Smart Sistas

Eloise is a 17-year-old girl from the island of Santo in Vanuatu. Despite very limited resources for education in her community, she has big dreams of connecting her ambitions to the world through technology.

Globally—and in Vanuatu in particular—there is a lack of Information Communication Technology (ICT) training to empower young women and girls to become leaders in the ICT field. Launched in 2014, the SMART Sistas ICT program for girls was created in partnership with local private partners, communities, and the Peace Corps. SMART Sistas strives to empower girls ages 13-18 to pursue education in and, eventually, career opportunities in ICT.  Each year, 10 to 12 young women from various islands attend a one-week ICT and leadership boot camp to learn key skills for success. By the end of the five-day camp, each girl completes 24 hours of ICT technical training; 12 hours of leadership and gender empowerment training; four hours of career exploration in telecommunications, television, radio broadcasting, computer hardware, software and services and electronic media; and four hours of training on the link between ICT and environmental action. Santo built on her experience around using the Internet, Windows Graphical User Interface, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, coding, and web design.  She believes that this training and networking will help prepare her for work in the IT field or with careers that leverage these ICT skills.

To date, over 100 girls just like Santo have participated in the SMART Sistas ICT, and a number of the participants have gone on to enter university engineering programs or ICT related jobs.  SMART Sistas also reaches many other girls through its social media such as the Facebook page with 7,300 followers and the website www.SMARTsistas.vu, which gets many additional young women users.

The program has succeeded in part in Vanuatu due to the collaboration with partners and sponsors such as local telecommunications operators, ICT companies, government, regional and international sponsors such as Computer World and First Global.

In addition, since 2017, Peace Corps Vanuatu staff have served as mentors to five SMART Sista youth and supported their participation in the Global Robotics Challenge including, most recently, when the challenge was held in Singapore in 2023.  The Global Robotics Challenge is organized by First Global, a U.S.-based nonprofit committed to inspiring science, technology, and innovation in young people from all nations and increasing understanding and cooperation.   One high school team from every nation is invited to participate in the annual event.    Vanuatu's participation in the annual Global Robotics Challenge is organized through Peace Corps Vanuatu's SMART Sistas committee.

Peace Corps staff oversaw the application process for the Vanuatu delegation, supported the youth to fundraise to cover their travel expenses, and provided space in the Peace Corps office for the youth to assemble their functioning robot with the ability to generate, carry, store, and use hydrogen-based technologies in line with last year’s theme of Hydrogen Horizons.

The Global Robotics Challenge is a remarkable event designed to use STEM as a platform to bring nations together to work towards solutions for the world's pressing issues of climate adaptation, economic, social, health, and well-being of the planet.  It was a privilege for the Vanuatu delegation to be represented by the Peace Corps SMART Sistas program.