VODACOM Lesotho (VCL) and Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) have partnered with the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG), in hosting a workshop for southern African women engineers which will be held from 2 – 6 November 2015.
The workshop is an intensive hands-on Unix System Administration and Networking programme that aims to give participants the ability to install, upgrade, secure and competently manage the Unix operating system on standard PC hardware, and use it to provide essential Internet services on a network. It is aimed at participants who are technically competent but may have had little or no prior exposure to the Unix environment.
The AfNOG conference is hosted in various African countries each year, and this year will be hosted in Lesotho, with support from VCL and LCA. According to the organisers, priority would be given to Basotho applicants and other southern African female engineers that reside in Lesotho. The workshop will be fully funded by VCL and LCA, and admittance will be free for selected applicants.
Speaking on the importance of hosting the workshop in Lesotho and sponsoring the event, VCL Network Engineer, ‘Mamothokoane Tlali, said: “We have always been a company that cares deeply about empowering women, both in the workplace and in the community. “Our industry is one that is traditionally viewed as a male dominated one, and we are extremely delighted to be a part of the organisations leading the change in that regard; preparing and encouraging women to become a force to be reckoned with in technical fields.
“We are very thankful to LCA and AfNOG for this partnership and we look forward to seeing exceptional young Basotho female engineers take advantage of this opportunity.”
On behalf of LCA, Universal Service Fund Executive Secretary, Nthabiseng Pule, said: “The LCA is committed to ensuring that all communications-related service provision offered in Lesotho is of a world-class standard. It is therefore deep within our mandate to ensure that we have the required skill-sets locally to build and maintain these standards; this is why the partnership with AfNOG and Vodacom in this initiative was a very natural one.
“We are fully committed to continuing to close the numbers gap between male and female in Lesotho’s technological industries, and this is the perfect initiative to continue to do that.”
