WASHINGTON, D.C. /eNewsChannels/ — In response to the President’s call for expanded educational exchanges and new opportunities in entrepreneurship, innovation, and science, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce the creation of the TechWomen Program, which will provide professional peer mentorships for women from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the West Bank and Gaza working in the field of technology with their counterparts in the United States.
Selected TechWomen participants will travel to the United States for four-to-six weeks to work with mid-level female employees in various companies in technology hubs like Silicon Valley. Upon the completion of the foreign participants’ mentorships, select American counterparts will travel to the participants’ home regions to offer skills development and networking workshops for a broader range of women. The program will pilot in spring 2011 and will include 20-40 foreign participants.
Championing two distinct but equally key themes of President Obama’s June 2009 Cairo speech, TechWomen both supports development in the field of technology and empowers women. By facilitating the sharing of experience and knowledge as well as creating peer networks, TechWomen fosters professional development for women and creates sustainable relationships between U.S. and foreign participants.
Private sector entities interested in being considered as potential mentors for this initiative should email ECA at exchangesppp@state.gov.
Please see the website of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for more information about professional exchange programs: http://exchanges.state.gov/ .
For more information about the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, please see www.entrepreneurship.gov.
