The Organization
Code for All was born in 2015, out of a contemporary paradox: on one hand an extremely high youth unemployment rate, on the other hand an enormous employment opportunity in the ICT sector. We also know that in 20 years we will need a set of skills that might not even exist now. But we know logical reasoning and mathematical skills will be necessary.
Code for All is tackling this skills gap in two different ways:
– Through coding Bootcamps: in 14 intensive weeks, the organization is transforming jobless brilliant minds into junior developers, providing them with a route into the job market;
– Through its platform: thousands of children in Portugal are having programming lessons with Code for All’s computer science personalized learning platform, based on the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, that empowers teachers and makes learning code a lot of fun.
The Investor
Code for All was founded by two seasoned entrepreneurs and self-sustained from day one. It received funding from the first Social Impact Bond in southern Europe, through a partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which supported Code for All Junior programming lessons in both private and public schools in Lisbon. The organization is also funded by another Social Impact Bond in Portugal, in partnership with Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Fundão’s Municipality IEFP and ASSOP – Associação Shared Service & Outsourcing Platform, sponsoring several Bootcamps in Fundão. Code for All is currently on the market, raising a round of funding for internationalization.
The Metrics
By the end of 2017 it will have completed 12 coding bootcamps and ‘codeverted’ more than 200 unemployed people into junior developers, with a 98% employability rate. The average age of students is 30 years old, with the youngest 20 years old and the oldest 52 years old. Code for All has enrolled students from all types of backgrounds and education, from ninth-graders to PhD’s, and the average entry-level salary for graduates of its bootcamps is 65% more regarding Portugal’s minimum wage.
In 2015, children from both public and private schools were a part of the first Code for All Juniors pilot, with the first Social Impact Bond in Portugal. An independent study done by Universidade Nova showed these children improved their logic reasoning by 2-5% and their math abilities by 9%-17%, and felt more motivated to go to school.
For 2017/2018, together with the Portuguese Ministry of Education, Code for All will teach code to 50,000 children and will also have its first international pilot in Italy, Poland and Greece.
