Dear colleagues and friends,

In the name of the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA), we are happy to announce the launching of the two inspirational videos that were made thanks to the short testimonies of our AfNWA members.

This initiative of AfNWA was inspired by the fact that in most African countries the fraction of female scientists is still less than 20% (e.g., see the 2019 UNESCO Women in Science Report), and this number becomes even smaller when considering fundamental sciences such as physics. It was also inspired by our previous activities with the secondary school girls, where we learned that the principal reasons to not choose STEM are the lack of information, lack of support and encouragement, and lack of role models. We hope that these videos will be a useful resource for your outreach and education initiatives in primary and secondary schools and at universities, for empowering young girls through science and for inspiring them to do STEM.

We are very grateful to AfNWA members who made these videos possible and shared with us their thoughts and stories. AfNWA is a committee of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS), of which we are very proud and very grateful for the continued support given to us by the Secretariat. We are also grateful to Dr. Charles Takalana and Dr. Daniel Cunnama for their advice and support while working on videos, and to the South African DSI and Astronomy Department for the continued support given to AfAS.

The videos are available on YouTube and can be also accessed through the AfNWA website:
https://afnwa.org/resources/ 
https://afnwa.org/latest-news/