CoderDojo - Support kids learning to code globally

CoderDojo is a volunteer led, global movement of free coding clubs for young people. This project is a global initiative to assist anyone wishing to start a free coding club in their area. Dojos operate from anywhere between 20 and 140 children on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly basis. To ensure our volunteers are as well equipped as possible we offer support and guidance. We currently impact over 40,000 young people worldwide.

The funds we receive from GlobalGiving help us to support and cultivate the global community so that all volunteers receive a high-quality experience as they start their Dojo. We also ensure that all volunteers have the required tools and knowledge to start sustain a Dojo, this includes educational content development for use in Dojos, best practices documentation etc. We are also working to develop the global community through running events and meetups both on and offline to cultivate the community and to create opportunities to learn and share from one another.

We currently have 1,200 Dojos, operating in 72 countries, this figure grows everyday!

One more area of focus this year is the CoderDojo Girls Initiative.

The CoderDojo Girls initiative was launched in March 2017 in conjunction with International Women’s Day. The aim is to increase the global % of girls attending Dojos from 29% to at least 40% over the next three years. Many Dojos are already taking measures to reach more young girls, we want to work with them to inspire more Dojos to join the movement to reach gender parity! This will only be achieved if everyone in the community and wider ecosystem works together to make it a priority.

Why start this initiative?

We want to help make the tech sector more inclusive and as diverse as the world we live in. Currently, 29% of young people in CoderDojo are girls and 29% of volunteers in CoderDojo are female. By supporting girls in Dojos we are helping empower girls to be tech creators. We believe all girls deserve to have to space and support to enable them the same opportunities as boys in our increasingly technological world. We don’t know what the world is going look like in 10 years time, but we know it will be powered by code!

What are we doing?

We are focusing on three areas;

• Role Model Series: Every month we will  highlight, recognise and promote the amazing work of Champions and mentors who are working to engage young girls. As well as inspiring ninjas to showcase examples of peer role models.
• Content Creation: We will be putting diversity at the forefront when we create content moving forward. We have recently published content tried, tested and approved by girls. We are also going to explore more narrative based and goal setting content. We have planned a series working with wearables, one focusing on building apps using App Inventor and a third focusing on using coding skills to solve problems important to them.
• Research: In June 2017 we will be conducting the first Ninja survey which will be sent to all young people registered on Zen. This will help to measure the perspectives of the youth in CoderDojo for the first time on a global scale and in particular it will be useful to identify areas in which girls feel most confident or least confident and the motivations and influencing factors that cause them to continue with coding.

Links:

• The CoderDojo Annual Survey
• The CoderDojo Girls Initiative
• CoderDojo Girls Call Out