Improving the Impact of Diversity Initiatives in Africa - Abubakar Siddiq Ango, GitLab
Africa as a whole is making giant strides in terms of technology adoption, but job and educational opportunities remain scarce. Not everyone has the chance to be in the right place at the right time to access these opportunities. Thankfully, a lot of organizations & communities have been creating new initiatives and programs to help Africans better access these opportunities, especially the open-source communities. Despite these new initiatives, the impact has been limited. It will take more time and continued investment to generate a meaningful impact. . Some of these programs also struggle from a lack of experienced leadership, an inability to target the right audience, and unreasonable expectations. In this talk, Abubakar will be sharing how we can improve the success of outreach in Africa by approaching Africa as a continent with diverse entities and not as a single entity, how to reach the right audience, and how to get traction for your diversity programs. In addition to a previous presentation of this talk, I will be discussing how the remote-first culture we are currently witnessing can be leveraged to power initiatives on the continent. I will also be talking more about travel restrictions on the continent, which predate COVID affects programs and how to mitigate it.
