Training programme ‘Women in AI’ successfully concludes

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important technological trends in the modern world. The demand for new personnel in this highly paid and promising field is also growing. However, both in technology in general and in AI specifically, women and girls are less involved. Gender stereotypes and barriers continue to leave them behind in this dynamically developing field.

Taking into account the current reality, the training programme “Women in AI” was created, implemented by Business and Technology University (BTU) at the initiative of UN Women with the support of the European Union and the Norwegian Government. The programme, which launched in 2024, included two iterations. Each cohort of participants underwent a nine-month training course in AI and web development, receiving innovative, in-depth knowledge and developing new skills in the field of AI.

A total of 200 girls completed the programme. The first cohort of 100 participants completed their studies in February 2025, and the next 100 graduates received their certificates on 4 December. The special event was attended by the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński; the Ambassador of Norway to Georgia, Bergljot Hovland; the Ambassador of Japan to Georgia, Ishizuka Hideki; the UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, Kaori Ishikawa; and the Rector of BTU, Professor Nino Enukidze.

Among the graduates was 33-year-old Maka Saparashvili, an economist by profession who has been working as a financial data analyst for almost 10 years. Until now, she had never had any experience with coding, but the technology field interested her so much that as soon as she learned about the programme from a friend, she decided to participate. She then successfully passed the selection stages.

“Each lecture was new knowledge and practical experience for me,” Maka reflects. “The programme has laid a solid technical foundation for me, and now my next goal will be to apply the knowledge I’ve gained in practice and advance in the direction of artificial intelligence. I think that the availability of such initiatives for women is very important, especially in today’s reality. They provide equal opportunities and access to valuable knowledge, and [they] create a real chance for women to become professionals in the technology field, especially when they face financial barriers.”

UN Women, in partnership with BTU and with financial support from donors, actively supports the involvement of women and girls in technology. The initiatives “500 Women in Tech” and “Empowering Ukrainian Refugee Women in Tech” have already been successfully implemented, and in fact, the experiences of these projects inspired the crea of the AI training programme.

“Women in AI” was carried out with the support of the European Union within the framework of the UN Women regional programme “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence”, implemented by UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as within the framework of the Women’s Economic Empowerment component of the UN Women project “Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia”, supported by the Government of Norway.