This year theme for International Women’s Day DigitAll: invocation and technology for Gender Equality highlights the opportunities that the digitalization brings for women empowerment. It also reminds us that we must take a meaningful step to close the digital gender divide.

Indeed, the gender digital divide, among other things, prevents women to advance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And these fields are crucial and they constitute a high demand in the job market and they are still dominated by man. The digital gender divides prevent women fully benefiting from the digital transition. The European Union in Nepal has been strongly focusing on education and we are now aware that we need to strengthen our focus on quality education and this means also driving forward a human centric digital transition that leaves no one behind.

In Karnali, for instance, the European Union supports schools and local governments in increasing access and ability of all children, specially girls and children with disability, to use quality digital learning resources. With Finland, the European Union will also start working on teacher’s digital competences, improving teachers’ knowledge and access to training programs on digital technologies. This will enhance teachers’ ability to acquire and adopt the new technological challenges and prepared Nepali students to live and work in digital society and economy.

Central to this digital transitions are youth and young people and the Youth Sounding Board and the advisory board of the European Union actions is one of the way that we have been engaging with youth under our youth action plan which is first ever European Union’s Policy Framework for a meaningful partnership and strategic partnership with young people around the world. I am so pleased to have our Youth Sounding Board members engage in this project with Helvetas. I am really excited to learn about their experiences as a woman in the Nepal’s digital space.

Nona Deprez is the ambassador of European Union to Nepal. Excerpts of Ambassador’s statement delivered to Helvetas Podcast on 23 International Women’s Day. Visit site

Helvetas Nepal link