Anniversary Celebrations report 11 December 2020
December 11, 2020
The Zimbabwe National Chapter of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World celebrated its anniversary under the theme: “Building a complete scientist in the midst of the new norm”
Anniversary Celebrations report
11 December 2020
The Zimbabwe National Chapter of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World celebrated its anniversary under the theme: “Building a complete scientist in the midst of the new norm” on the 11th of December 2020. The event was held virtually using the Zoom Pro and many attended the event. The attendees included OWSD National Chairs from Zambia, South Africa just to mention a few. The event was graced by three very important speakers: Professor Olubukola Babalola the OWSD Africa Vice President, Dr. Tonya Blowers the OWSD Programme Coordinator and Professor Gabriel Kabanda the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences Secretary General. The event recognized OWSD Zimbabwe National Chapter members who gave testimonials on the impact the national chapter online talks had in their lives. The National Chapter also awarded the women tech developer network with certificates for participating in the IBM Digital Africa Programme.
Dr. Fortunate Farirai gave the opening remarks as she explained the purpose of the event. She highlighted that the purpose of the event was to celebrate the OWSD Zimbabwe National Chapters achievements and its anniversary. She shared the OWSD Zimbabwe National Chapter achievements from launch till to date. The National Chapter was launched on the 16th of November 2018, which coincided with the 25th Annivesary Celebration of OWSD International. The Zimbabwe National Chapter is housed under Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences (ZAS). Since the launch, the Zimbabwe National Chapter has been able to accomplish its goals and objectives through different activities. The activities and achievements include celebrating International Day for Women and Girls in Science, International Women’s Day, scientific writing workshops, science outreaches at both primary and high schools. More so, the organization from the 20th of May 2020 to 2nd December 2020 conducted weekly science talks on whatsapp every Wednesday. The National Chapter also launched the Women Tech Developer Network facilitated by the OWSD Website Point Person Ms. Tofara Chokera. Women where trained on internet of things, artificial intelligence, coding and data science on the IBM Nation Africa. OWSD Zimbabwe National Chapter was also selected to be part of the OWSD Visions pilot project of showcasing women in science research innovation. The National Chapter has also created a good relationship with women scientists in other countries thus encouraging them to launch National Chapters.
More so, Dr. Farirai also brought to light the significance of the OWSD Zimbabwe National Chapter. The logo depicts a woman passing on scientific knowledge-symbolized by the atom- to a small girl. In addition the logo represents Zimbabwes cultural values, the gesture also embraces the importance of social science and of involving communities. The colours are those found in the flag of Zimbabwe. The logo refelects the aim of the National Chapter to work from the grassroots up.
Professor Olubukola Babalola(Vice President of OWSD Africa Region)
Professor Olubukola Babalola the Vice President of OWSD Africa Region gave a presentation on: “Building complete scientists: Capitalizing on diverse coping strategies”. Her presentation defined a complete scientists bring to attention the characteristics of a complete scientist. A complete scientist according to Professor Babalola is an individual who is driven by passion and are set out on a successful career path, in science. They set their eyes on the focus and gives all it takes towards achieving this course. Scientists should be devise throughout unfavorable situations and they capitalize on diverse coping strategies to surmount any difficult moments in order to achieve results. As she concluded she advised women to learn to say no and also embrace failure. Stories of great success are often preceded by epic failure.
Dr. Tonya Blowers(OWSD Programmes Coordinator)
Dr. Tonya Blowers the OWSD Programmes Coordinator presented on the topic: “Responding to COVID 19: Women scientists from developing countries make an impact”. Her presentation helped attendees know more about OWSD International and its goals. She also presented on the achievements of other national chapters. Her presentation also highlighted on the opportunities the OWSD offers. These include the OWSD Early Career Fellowship programme which supports early career women scientists to lead important research projects in those countries which have been identified as especially lacking in scientific and technological resources. She also explained on the OWSD PhD Fellowship which is offered to women scientists from science and technology lagging countries to undertake PhD research in the natural, engineering and information technology sciences at a host institute in another developing country.
Professor Gabriel Kabanda(Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences Secretary General)
The Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences Secretary General, Professor Gabriel Kabanda presented on the topic: “Essential business informatics for a modern innovative scientist: The NP Complete problem”. He opened his presentation by a quote frpm Nelson Mandela, “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.” He defined business informatics as an emerging discipline that fully integrates computer and business administration into one field and combines various aspects of business management, information technology and informatics. Business informatics is interdisciplinary in nature and consists of three major elements and these include: Informatics, Information technology and Business management and administration. His presentation was very informative which benefited members who attended the celebrations.
As the anniversary went on, the National Chapter recognized 25 women scientists from OWSD Women Developer Network who attained badges from the IBM Digital Nation Africa programme. The badges were presented by Ms. Tofara Chokera the programmes facilitator. The IBM Digital Nation Africa programme offers cloud based learning platform designed to provide free skills in coding, artificial intelligence and data science. The anniversary also gave some members an opportunity to give testimonials on the impact the OWSD Zimbabwe National Chapter has been through its different activities.
As the programme ended, Ms Sarudzai Muyambo gave the closing remarks. She acknowledged the presence of all the important guests. She also highlighted the achievents of the National Chapter and the great the executive committee has been doing since the launch of the chapter. She encouraged members to keep supporting the National Chapter.
