Strengthening employability of female youth in the STEM sector

A total of 667 female students and graduates of vocational schools and training centres successfully achieved the minimum standard in obtaining basic skills in web development through “Women Digital Development Skill Up” training programme. Organized by the ILO in collaboration with Clevio Coder Camp Training Provider and Axioo Class Programme (ACP) from October 2020 to the beginning of 2021, the six-batch training programmes aimed to provide web-development training specifically designed for female students and graduates of vocational schools.

Different from the other training programmes, this training programme provides both technical and soft skills, preparing the participants to enter fast changing world of work. Nurul Afifah Muthoharoh, Sabrina Syaugi and Muflikhah Isna Nur Aini were three participants who were passionate with computer and technology since their younger ages.

The advancement of technology has become a necessity and greatly influenced people’s everyday lives. Thus, I wish to help micro, small and medium enterprises in my home town in Rembang district to be more aware and familiar with digital marketing."

Nurul Afifah Muthoharoh

Nurul, a student of PGRI Semarang Public University majoring in information technology education, said that the training programme has made her more open to various technological advancement and possibility of life changes in the future. She even aspires to create a number of solutions with the Internet of Things (IoT) approach.

“The advancement of technology has become a necessity and greatly influenced people’s everyday lives. Thus, I wish to help micro, small and medium enterprises in my home town in Rembang district to be more aware and familiar with digital marketing. To date, there is only limited local businesses that utilize the technology,” she aspired.

Similar with Nurul, Sabrina, a graduate of Electronic Engineering major of the Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, now feels more confident in applying and getting a decent job in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related area. “Web-development has always been my passion. The training programme has taught me new applications such as Laravel framework that have strengthened my web-development skills,” Sabrina stated.

She has also set a new dream to create a comprehensive application for electronic sales. “The training programme has pushed me to create a new target based on my passion. The application would include a system that manages and ensures all types of settlements and transactions,” she added.

Web-development has always been my passion. The training programme has taught me new applications such as Laravel framework that have strengthened my web-development skills."

Sabrina Syaugi

Different from Nurul and Sabrina, Muflikhah has already tasted the STEM-related job. She worked as a website developer after graduating from Informatics major of the Amikon University, Yogyakarta, in 2019. The training programme has aspired her to become a mentor, encouraging more women to enter the STEM-related areas.

“More and more women should be part of the STEM-related areas and jobs, especially the participation of women are still much lesser than men. Therefore, I aspire to be a mentor and to deliver training programme related to technology for women. Women should also be part of the technological advancement,” she stated.

Soft skills as the skills of 21st century

Muflikhah Isna Nur Aini In addition to the technical skills, the three participants—Nurul, Sabrina and Muflikhah—admitted that the training programme has improved their communication skills and the desire to continue learning. “I am now more confident in socializing with new people,” said Sabrina, while Nurul said, “At the beginning I feel that some the training materials are challenging, but the challenges now motivate me to strive for everything and explore many possibilities.”

We also learnt that these soft skills are keys for us to be resilience and to be professional."

Muflikhah Isna Nur Aini

They also agree that creativity, independence and discipline were the other set of soft skills that have made them more confident in facing the future. Muflikhah shared her experience when the participants were required to complete their tasks independently within the required time.

“We are assign to complete a task with various features and use the framework with the highest level of difficulty within a short of time. At the same time we also learn how to be creative, independent and focus. We also learnt that these soft skills are keys for us to be resilience and to be professional,” she told.

That is why we also focus on strengthening participants’ soft skills in the web-development training. These skills are in demand due to the increasing number of jobs that require not only technical skills but also soft skills that cannot be replaced by the technology."

Siska Oetami, founder of Clevio Coder Camp

Siska Oetami, founder of Clevio Coder Camp, admitted that the challenges in preparing graduates ready for work in the 21st century are related to the development of soft skills. These include the ability to continue learning and produce innovation, creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration as well as responsibility.

“That is why we also focus on strengthening participants’ soft skills in the web-development training. These skills are in demand due to the increasing number of jobs that require not only technical skills but also soft skills that cannot be replaced by the technology,” she said.

In agreement, Samuel Lauw, CEO Axioo who is also the representative of the industry, said that today’s industry tend to pay more focus on soft skills. Soft skills are also important skills needed for people to adapt with new changes. “Soft skills such as willingness to learn, for example, is the basic skill that make humans always be ahead of the artificial intelligence and automation,” he concluded.

This activity was carried out by the ILO through the Women's Workforce Readiness and Development Program in STEM, funded by J.P. The Morgan Chase Foundation, seeking to provide women in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines with training in non-technical and technical skills related to STEM, employability and leadership.