Roya Mahboob and #DigitalCitizenFund: What one shy woman can do

The night before her speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Roya Mahboob and I chatted about her organization in Afghanistan.  Digital Citizen Fund teaches IT to girls across the country to empower them and their communities through IT, internet, and information. A shy little girl who used to be too afraid to speak in front of her classroom learned about all that the world had to offer through this thing called the Internet. Fast forward a few years later: Roya has created an organization that puts her on the list of the world’s most influential people. To date, Digital Citizen Fund has:

  • 13 IT centers
  • Enrolled and graduated 7,900 girls
  • Provided 55,000 people with internet access (5% of Afghanis have access to the internet)

Check out their site to learn more about their programs, snapshots of some of the young women who are students of this organization, and how you can get involved. Click here to donate and support this incredible initiative to empower women and their communities through internet, information, and technology.

Roya and me in Oslo City Hall!

Read Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s profile of Roya here for TIME’s 100 Most Influential People here.

Read VICE’s article: Afghanistan’s Tech Revolution is Coming and Roya Mahboob is at the Helm

Watch her powerful speech here about her work below:

 

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