CoderDojo - Support kids learning to code globally

CoderDojo is a volunteer led, global movement of free coding clubs for young people. Dojos operate from anywhere between 20 and 140 children on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly basis. We currently have 1,300 Dojos, operating in 75 countries worldwide, impacting over 40,000 young people per year, this figure grows everyday! Our main aim is to ensure all of our volunteers are as well equipped as possible to start, sustain and grow Dojo’s in their communities, we offer Champions and mentors support and guidance to do this.

Since the last report, we announced our intention to join force with the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the UK, as a result we are now part of the world’s largest  movement to get kids involved with coding and digital making. This merger will support the CoderDojo Foundation in becoming a stronger, more sustainable and resilient organisation advancing our mission.

While we actively encourage everyone to start a Dojo in their community, this project is specifically designed to help support and encourage more girls to join Dojo’s. Following a recent report CoderDojo By Numbers we found that just 29% of Dojo attendees (Ninja’s) are girls, we would like to create gender parity within Dojo’s by raising this figure to at least 40% over the next number of 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. The funds we receive from GlobalGiving help us to encourage our global community of volunteers to actively increase the number of girls starting and participating in their Dojo’s.

What are we doing?

We are focusing on three areas;

• 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: https://coderdojo.com/news/2017/04/17/lights-on-with-wearables-sushi/ 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.
• Role Model Series: Highlighting, recognising and promoting 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.
• Girl-centric Events: Working with existing Dojos to support them in running specific girls events, across the world to increase the awareness of STEAM and its associated benefits to girls in their community.

One more area of focus this year is:

Youth Surveys, we plan on conducting more regular Youth Surveys in 2017 tohelp us learn more about the experiences of young people at CoderDojo and guide our strategy for youths through 2017 and early 2018.

We want to take this opportunity to thank all of our new and ongoing donors for supporting CoderDojo over the holiday period! We hope you will continue to support our vision of giving every child in the world the opportunity to learn how to code in a safe and creative environment. We would love if you could also inform your friends, family or colleagues about our work and encourage them to support us too!

Links:

• CoderDojo Girls: A Guide For Ninjas
• Report: CoderDojo By Numbers
• Sushi Card: Wearables