Excited about opportunity to further empower girls to think about STEM as a career opportunity: US State Department on WiSci camp

Ernakulam (Kerala) [India], June 8 (ANI): US State Department's Special Representative for Global Partnerships, Dorothy McAuliffe, said that she is excited to be here in Kochi and it is the first WiSci that is being held in South Asia. She called it very important and meaningful as girls can learn about opportunities and applications of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) education.
In an interview with ANI, Dorothy McAuliffe stated that they are very excited about the opportunity to empower girls to think about STEM as a career opportunity. and to think about their futures and their leadership.
Asked about the WiSci South Asia Camp and the US partnership with Girl Up in organizing the camp, McAuliffe said, "We are very excited to be here in Kochi, and this is the first WiSci that we've had in South Asia. So it's really important and meaningful to us, a very high-priority partnership for us with the Girl Up Foundation from the UN. We have girls from all over South Asia, including India, all over India, and also from the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
"We have 100 girls who have come to learn about opportunities and to learn applications of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) education. So they're studying coding and they're studying artificial intelligence, data analytics, and other technologies and applying them to real-world exercises. And we're very excited about this opportunity to further empower girls to think about STEM as a career opportunity. and to think about their futures and their leadership. There's also a very much a strong leadership component and skills part of the camp," she added.

McAuliffe is on a two-day visit to India to meet participants and deliver closing remarks at the WiSci (Women in Science) South Asia STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and design, and mathematics) Camp.
From June 1-9, this all-girls immersive camp will bring together nearly 100 secondary school girls from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the US and Maldives to offer skills-building, mentorship and experiential learning opportunities in various STEAM fields, according to US State Department's press release.
Stressing that the camp will empower women, Dorothy McAuliffe called technology and STEAM fields are in demand. She said these are high paying jobs and will help to close the gender pay equity gap.
Asked how the camp will empower women, McAuliffe responded, "So, we see technology and the steam fields are very much a demand in the economy that for more positions and more qualified people with these types of skills and so they're high paying jobs and also to help close the gender pay equity gap."
"Thinking about how we're empowering girls to use technology, whether they enter into STEAM fields, pretty much all careers now are gonna have some element of technology application in them. But, we see STEAM as a really important driver in terms of thinking about the high-paying jobs, of the future, and so empowering girls to think about these jobs and to be supported and encouraged to apply for these types of career pathways is really important to our advancing women and girls across the world," she added.
In an earlier press release, the US Department of State stated, "The WiSci South Asia STEAM Camp 2024 is a collaborative public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State's Office of Global Partnerships, the UN Foundation's Girl Up, the Caterpillar Foundation."
Dorothy McAuliffe stated that the Coalition of Climate Entrepreneurship is a public-private partnership run out of their office at the US State Department of Global Partnerships. She called Coalition for Climate Entrepreneurship hubs innovation hubs around the world where they support local ecosystems of entrepreneurs through accelerators, programs, training, access to capital and skill building of all types.
Speaking about the Coalition for Climate and Entrepreneurship, she said, "Our Coalition of Climate Entrepreneurship is a public-private partnership run out of our office at the State Department of Global Partnerships. I'm the special representative for the Office of Global Partnerships. And our CCE, our Coalition for Climate Entrepreneurship hubs, are innovation hubs around the world where we support local ecosystems of entrepreneurs through accelerators, programs, training, access to capital, skill building of all types and we see bringing women and girls into the program of entrepreneurship tackling climate challenges is a really important driver for solutions."
"We need their diverse perspectives and their approaches to solving this incredible challenge that we face as a global community of climate change and so how do we bring women and girls into the solutions is a very important piece of driving climate entrepreneurship and and advancing opportunity for women and girls across the globe," she added.
US State Department's senior official said she is proud to be here on behalf of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. She called it important that the government and private sector work together to solve these challenges and stressed that the governments can't do everything.
Asked about the kind of differences they will be able to make in their communities, Dorothy McAuliffe said, "First of all, I want to say I'm very proud to be here on behalf of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary Blinken and focusing on public-private partnerships and the work that we do together with our partners that are here with us."
"So, we have not only Girl Up Foundation from the UN, but we have TE Connectivity Foundation and we have Google and we have United Airlines and we have the Caterpillar Foundation who are our private sector partners. So, we know that government and private sector coming together to solve these challenges are so important because we know governments can't do it all. And so thinking about how the skills that these girls will learn here. We had mentors from all of these companies teaching the curriculum. They can see themselves in these roles in the future, thinking about applying technology that they're learning here today," she added.
After her engagements in Kochi, Dorothy McAuliffe will visit various cities in India to meet key stakeholders and discuss partnerships with the US Department of State, according to US State Department press release.
She will also hold meetings with alumni of past Office of Global Partnerships initiatives, including the winners of the 2022 P3 Impact Award and recipients of the Office of Global Partnerships' COVID-19 Private Sector Engagement and Partnership Fund. (ANI)