Resident Coordinator's Remarks at the Final Session of Girls in ICT Thailand

It is great to be back with all of you at the final session of the Girls for ICT programme. I would like to congratulate the over 1,000 participating students and teachers this year. 

I would also like to thank the co-organizers, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, ITU, private sector, academia, civil society, and UN partners involved.

The programme in which you are participating in Thailand has proven to be a beacon for girls and young women in Asia Pacific, as it has been replicated in 11 other countries across the region. 

In many ways, you are the role models. I am grateful to ITU for taking on board the suggestion to focus on boys as well, with the inaugural 'boys in ICT' initiative. This is critical in Thailand’s context where we see less boys than girls completing secondary school, even though men and boys continue to dominate the STEM field. I hope that Thailand continues as a model for other countries to also adopt Boys in ICT.

Science, creative economy, and ICT are the careers of the future in which young women and men of your generation will be entering. This initiative is an entry point for these careers, providing you with the bedrock to continue in this track. It is also fundamental to boosting your digital literacy for your everyday life.

The world is changing at an incredible pace, faced with multiple crisis including climate, food security, and financing. These crises make it essential for countries to scale up green economies and jobs, that involve transformation. Technologies and digitized service delivery through telemedicine, eLearning, renewables, and EV will be the future for all of us.

These green jobs are going to leverage digital skills. This course is the start of a journey, which equips you for the green market. Given this context, young people like yourselves are critical to bringing digital solutions to bear to speed up the achievement of the SDGs and securing our planet.

As you move on from this programme, I have three asks of you:

1. I want you to inspire many more young girls and boys about ICT and STEM, showing them how to remain safe online.

2. Think about the SDGs and think big to enable us to make it a win-win, for you and for the world.

3. And act on the SDGs. Bring digital solutions to speed up progress as you understand this space much better than many of us.

Every contribution small or big makes a difference and can lead to a more prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable world. Let me thank you for this opportunity to engage with you and wish you the very best for your future.