A documentary to tell resilience stories of Brazilian students who participated in #EDUCASTEM2030 project and embraced their dreams

The trajectories of two Brazilian students, who participated in the #EDUCASTEM2030 project and in the first group of the MOOC UNESCO Young STEM Leader 2030 course last year, will be part of a documentary produced by Chinese TV CGTN in partnership with UNESCO. Entitled “Her”, the film will show how girls from different countries worldwide have overcome barriers and difficulties to embark on the so-called STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

In addition to the two Brazilian girls, this audiovisual production will also present the life stories of a girl from Tanzania and another from Pakistan. The documentary is scheduled to be released in France in October 2023.

The course is an initiative of UNESCO in Brazil, developed within the scope of the pioneering #EDUCASTEM2030 project, aimed at encouraging the participation of girls and women in STEM areas. The project developed teacher training courses (UNESCO Leading Teacher STEM2030) and student training (UNESCO Young Leader STEM 2030), with a view to breaking barriers, prejudices and gender stereotypes for the inclusion of girls in STEM areas.

Tainá Caldas, from Ilhéus, and Fabiana Machado de Souza, from Catu, both currently 19 years old from the State of Bahia, faced numerous socioeconomic and emotional difficulties accessing their right to quality Basic education. Both Tainá and Fabiana, with the support of quality school management and their families, in addition to the encouragement of the course offered by UNESCO, managed to break gender prejudices and achieve their dream of enrolling in an engineering course.

Tainá is currently studying production engineering at the State University of Santa Cruz in Ilhéus (Bahia). The young woman from Bahia remembers that she suffered racist bullying when she entered elementary school, which affected her emotionally and made her lose confidence and motivation to study. Still, she reacted thanks to a teacher and family’s support. After participating in the course, Tainá saw her perspectives change even more.