The Melton Foundation is a network of citizens around the world that promotes global citizenship to address issues around the world, as well as to encourage individuals and organizations to reach across boundaries and work together. Last month they started featuring philanthropic efforts in their 100 Acts of Global Citizenship program. The first Featured Act is the work of Melton Fellow Vladimir Fomene, who encourages young students--especially girls--to learn coding and computer science starting at an early age.

meltonfoundation.org - This post is the first Featured Act from our 100 Acts of Global Citizenship program. To discover more acts, visit our campaign page!

Vladimir Fomene, a Melton Fellow from Cameroon, studies computer science at Ashesi University. When he started thinking about his Act of Global Citizenship, Vladimir wanted to address a social cause in his own field of study. That's how he came up with the idea to empower young people, especially girls, with technology skills.

"When I started coding, I realized that things would have been easier if I had started when I was very young," Vladimir said. "I thought it would give people more opportunities if they start coding at a very early age."

Vladimir organized a workshop for junior high students at Christ the King International College in Accra which included teamwork activities, a graphic design session and scratch programming session. Although the session was open for both boys and girls, Vladimir especially encouraged the girls to participate actively.

"In STEM fields, there is a gender balance problem because they are dominated by men," Vladimir says. "Many more girls are interested in going for technology fields, but they are not introduced to these things early on."

Read more here.