Cybersoda: Awareness campaign on ICT oriented towards a young public

In Belgium, women remain underrepresented in ICT: barriers included a lack of existing tools for organising training workshops, the cost of software licences for schools and associations, and limited ICT training among school staff. Cybersoda sought to show adolescent girls that mastering a computer is not inaccessible or mysterious.

The programme aimed to train trainers who could advocate the project's benefits within their network, demonstrate that computer literacy is accessible, and provide teachers with ideas and examples of what can be done with a computer — with an intended impact of more girls understanding and using computers, and more girls in IT jobs.

Cybersoda is delivered via a Live CD GNU/Linux tool that lets girls explore the internet, programming, graphic design, websites and hardware, avoiding the licensing costs that were identified as a barrier. The programme trains teachers and trainers to run these workshops, supported by the ADA Project 'Women & IT', the Fondation Roi Baudouin and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

The programme reached 1,000 people through 30 operational staff, with a reported cost of EUR 50,000 to 100,000.

Evaluation relied on qualitative methods: testimonies about the workshops and their outputs (websites, images, small programming games). Key learning points cited were more girls in IT jobs and a reusable methodology for teachers and trainers, but no independent or quantitative study is documented.