Coding Initiatives Train 16,000 EMEA Youth for Digital Careers

Arun Shankar
August 2, 2018 8:19 am

SAP along with Galway Education Centre and around 50 partners trained more than 16,000 youth in coding across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. According to a survey by the job search platform Indeed, 84 percent of employers believe that coding boot camps provide as much or more preparation for careers as compared to computer science degrees.

16,201 youth did coding training across coding initiatives in Egypt, France, Greece, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Sweden, and Turkey, the United Nations. Aiming to diversify the technological workforce of the future, among Refugee Code Week 2017 participants, 57 percent were refugees and 50 percent were female.

“As the pace of technological change advances, Middle East countries face a short timeline to support youth in learning the coding skills needed for innovative digital careers,” said Gergi Abboud, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Middle East South, SAP. “While youth are digital natives, their skills do not necessarily match business needs. Refugee Code Week shows how youth can be empowered and inspired to take on high-value digital careers.”

Top participants can leverage the resources of the One Million Arab Coders initiative, which aims to support 1 million Arabs in becoming professional software developers. Participants can access career opportunities, internships, certifications and “nano-degrees”, entrepreneurship accelerators, and cash prizes through the program’s ecosystem.

Organizers are working closely with regional governments – especially in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon — to integrate coding into the educational curriculum. Supporting educational sustainability, more than 2,700 trainers have been trained in coding and can continue to give back to their communities. Lebanon had the highest participation with 7,785 youth engaged across 200 schools, trained by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) coordinated on the initiatives in the Palestinian Territories, and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in the rest of the region.

“Refugee Code Week shows how public, private, and academic organizations can join forces to close the region’s digital skills gap, enable youth development, and support refugees’ career preparedness,” said Mohammed Abu Asaker, Senior Regional Public Information Officer for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). “Coding initiatives can give youth and refugees a purpose in life, and can also enable them to land digital careers, and create economic benefits that can lift up their families and communities.”

Companies that hired Refugee Code Week graduates include data management firm Adaptcore, healthcare company Altibi, travel company Expedia, Jordanian conglomerate Salbashian Group, and Saudi user experience firm UXBERT.