Shilpa Sayura Foundations Nextgen Girls In Technology project won the UNESCO launched the call for nominations for the 2020 UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education. This Award honours outstanding and innovative contributions in the world to advance women’s education.
This is the first time Sri Lanka has won a UNESCO award for an education Project.

NextGen Girls in Technology increases women participation in emerging technology careers by introducing a techno-extracurricular program in schools to improve analytical, logical and creative thinking and Training university girls on-demand skills like IoT, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity and Design to bridge the skills mismatch and increase their employment opportunities. The nextGen project reached all corners of Sri Lanka from north to south offline and online in the past two years. Training 2,482 School Students, 566 Teachers and 418 University students.

Nextgen gave some girls their first technology experience changing their career expectations. University Girls learned in-demand industry skills which were not taught in their universities and got better internships and jobs.