International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated worldwide every year on the fourth Thursday of April (27 April 2023). Girls in ICT Day provides an opportunity for girls and young women to see and be exposed to the benefit of ICT in enabling their career and aspiration. To date, over 377,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 11,400 celebrations of International Girls in ICT Day in 171 countries worldwide.

Since 2017, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES-Thailand), Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC-Thailand) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) together with partners including Ministry of Education, UNESCAP, FAO, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNWOMEN, APT, AIBD, CISCO, Huawei, DTAC, Chulalongkorn University, Thammasat University, CCKDM, NECTEC, Code.org, DCT, Supernap, Japan Brand Communication and GIC (AIT) have been running a capacity building program aimed at imparting employable digital skills to girls and young women in Thailand training more than 1650 female students. In 2023, Girls in ICT Day celebration in Thailand was conducted in hybrid mode (face to face and virtual) from April to July . Over 1000 girls and young women participated in the three different digital skills training programme tracks, including digital inclusion, digital skills, and ICT career development.

This year’s initiative will incorporate focus on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2023 (SDG), particularly through the United Nations Global Compact Thailand’s (UNGCT) support for SDG 5: Gender Equality. UNGCT’s goal of supporting the SDGs, especially SDG 5: Gender Equality as well as the vision to promote and raise awareness on SDG, use of technology and innovation, specifically in the area of Artificial Intelligence, and developing young leaders aligns seamlessly Girls in ICT Thailand’s  theme of ‘Leadership’, focusing on empowering girls and young women in ICT to take on leadership roles and contribute towards closing the gender gap in STEM fields.

Building on the past successes in Thailand, the ITU would like to invite Office of the NBTC, MDES, partners from UN agencies, industry, and academia to co-organize and prepare for the 2024 Girls in ICT celebration.

Provisional Agenda

MC:

• Farida Waller

Welcoming remarks

• Atsuko Okuda, Regional Director for ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
• Professor Emeritus Dr. Pirongrong Ramasoota, National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission

Keynote

• Nattapon Nattasomboon, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society
• Atthaphon Sangkhawasee, Secretary-General, Office of the Education Council

(Each speaker to have 5 min max. focusing on the information required to be shared)

Special Panel Session

In 2023, women constituted only 14% of tech leaders globally, highlighting the need to better support girls and young women to take on leadership roles in the next decade. During this special session, panellists will discuss innovative strategies that can be implemented to promote leadership qualities in girls and young women within STEM and ICT fields.

Moderator:

• Young woman representative for Girls in ICT Day Thailand

Panellists:

• Iwona Spytkowski, Head of Office, UN Resident Coordinator Office in Thailand
• Jongbong Park, Director Project Development, Asia Pacific Telecommunity
• Representative from Ministry of Education
• Kasititorn Pooparadai, Ph.D., Senior Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and Security Promotion Unit, Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), Ministry of Digital Economy and Society

Note: Session includes interaction with participants

(Each speaker to have 3 min max. focusing on the information required to be shared)

Session powered by the Office of the NBTC

Moderated by:

• Farida Waller

Speakers:

• Preeyada Sitthachai, Actress
• Noppaluck Kunthawatchai, Influencer and Blogger 

Interactive presentations/interviews/conversations between a girl or a young woman, boys and the Girls in ICT Day Thailand Partners to share their experience related to this year’s Girls in ICT 2024 theme on “Leadership”.

This session will be divided into three sections with the participation of the Girls in ICT Day Thailand Partners from UN Agencies and Intergovernmental organisations; Industries; and Academia, who will discuss specific topics focusing on “Leadership”, moderated by youth leaders from Asia and the Pacific.

The aim of this session is to inspire boys and girls to pursue STEM and ICT careers. Selected male and female participants will demonstrate their work and/role on leadership and innovation that contributes towards their community. They will be invited to present their work and engage with partners that are present to share their thoughts and support they may want to extend to enhance the value of their work.

Moderated by:

• Miss Saruta Meengam (Zonda), Faculty of engineering Thammasat University and the President of the Thammasat University Rural Student Scholarship Project club 2024

Speakers:

• Miss Narisara Limpisirisant (Fai), Gold Student Ambassador – Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador
• Superset Vorathammathorn
• Peeranat Ounhanan

An interactive session where partners will respond to specific questions related to leadership, meaningful use of ICT in their daily lives, and/or community development. The speakers can take this opportunity to reflect on their Girls in ICT activity/programme, with the aim of developing an activity/programme that closely relates to the needs of girls and young women in Thailand.

Proposed Implementation and Format:

1. Representatives will be given the option to conduct a short interview and design a short interactive quiz via Mentimeter/SLIDO to test knowledge or interact with physical and online participants.
2. The responses will be used to segue into the introduction of their Girls in ICT Programmes
3. At the end of the session, introduce a word cloud to gather key takeaways from the session.

Moderated by:

• Apisara Silsawang, Chulalongkorn Model United Nations club, Ambassador For A day

Speakers:

• Rangsun Wiboonuppatum, Education Specialist, UNICEF Thailand
• Perada Dulyapiradis, Public and Private Sector Engagement, UN Women
• Philomena Gnanapragasam, Secretariat Director, Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting (AIBD) (Virtual)
• Angela Wibawa, Director APAC, Government and IGO Engagement, ICANN (Virtual)

(Each speaker to have 3 min max. focusing on the information required to be shared)

An interactive session where partners will introduce their Girls in ICT programme in the form of quiz and short presentation. Participants will engage via online polls. The panellists can take this opportunity to reflect on their Girls in ICT activity/programme, with the aim of developing an activity/programme that closely relates to the needs of girls and young women in Thailand.

Proposed Implementation and Format:

1. Representatives will be given the option to conduct a short interview and design a short interactive quiz via Mentimeter/SLIDO to test knowledge or interact with physical and online participants.
2. The responses will be used to segue into the introduction of their Girls in ICT Programmes
3. At the end of the session, introduce a word cloud to gather key takeaways from the session.

Moderated by:

• Miss Kyawt Tinzar Htun, Thammasat University

Speakers:

• Suthinee Leelahemaratana, Program Manager, Cisco Systems Thailand Ms. Doyeon Kim, International Partnerships Manager, APAC, Code.org (Virtual)
• Varaporn Pangboonyanon, Deputy Director of Huawei Asia Pacific Learning Service Department
• Takeshi Kasai, SENKO Advanced Components (TBC)
• Xia Qing, Vice President, ZTE Thailand
• Supavadee Aramvith, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Chulalongkorn University
• Representative from AIT

(Each speaker to have 3 min max. focusing on the information required to be shared)

• Representative from ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
• Representative from Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)