| ANNUAL REPORTS *
Welcome to CodeBrave’s
2020 Impact Report
CodeBrave teaches marketable tech skills to the most vulnerable children in Lebanon at shelters and disadvantaged schools. 2020 was our second full year of operations. We began to see the longer-term impact of CodeBrave work, as well as the demand for 21st century education in Lebanon. CodeBrave also started working with 41 new students: 21 at two Caritas centres in Beirut, and 20 at Kayany Foundation schools in the Bekaa funded by UNESCO. One of them was Aya. Here is her story.
Aya joined CodeBrave’s 2019 summer bootcamp with The Kayany Foundation. In autumn, we lent Aya and 19 of her schoolmates donated iPads so they could continue their tech education at home through lockdown.
Since then, she’s completed our Mobile Website Builder course. She used design thinking to create a WordPress website and learned critical digital skills like email, search and internal safety.
Aya attended an embroidery course last year and wanted to showcase her knowledge and designs on a website. So for her project with us, she decided to create a website selling embroidery.
Our Impact in 2020
“CodeBrave is really making a difference.”
This is CodeBrave superstar Joseph* meeting his boss, Basel. Joseph’s Journey interned for 5 months at Cherpa; a tech company in Beirut. When Joseph walked through this door, it changed his life, helping him overcome years of abandonment and neglect. Many of his peers from similar backgrounds are not so lucky; they are in jail or stuck in exploitative work. After his first month, Basel praised Joseph as “a fast learner, a super hard-worker, and very focused.” Following this internship, he went on to join SE Factory‘s Computer Science Foundations bootcamp for adults. Joseph was in CodeBrave’s original cohort at Home of Hope, and is an example of what can happen when a student is given the confidence, skills and opportunities to fulfil their potential. So next time you see a child working on the street, remember—there could be a brilliant young talent inside if only they were given the opportunity, training, and care.
To deliver our projects, we partnered with…
Our projects were funded by…
Thought Leadership
Thought Leadership
At CodeBrave, we take neuroscience and psychology seriously, because we want every child in our classes to learn the most they can. We got our start engaging students with complex trauma in their backgrounds, and it turns out that the building blocks of these teaching methods (structure, nurture, clarity, and high standards, to name a few) create good learning environments for anyone. It’s just good teaching. And offering instruction this way makes teaching more enjoyable for educators too!
In the years to come, we aim to become thought leaders for STEM education in the region to open the door for more students to excel in tech. In order to accomplish this, we will stay up to date on the most current methods in psychology and education. We will also conduct trainings with our partner institutions, and achieve Real Change for the students in our classes.
Challenges
Challenges
Globally, 2020 has been a challenging year, but in Lebanon it has been particularly difficult. With the Covid-19 pandemic limiting our ability to run in-person classes, we had to review many of our operations strategies to keep up.
Tech Education is More Important Than Ever
The Covid-19 pandemic has truly highlighted the life-changing impact of having digital skills and being able to access education and work online. And on top of that, a massive economic recession and the port explosion in Beirut has led to a deepening crisis where an estimated 55% of the population is now living in poverty, a jump from 28% in 2019.
As a result, many people, if they have means, are leaving the country in search of better opportunities. For those that are staying, how can they build their future? How will young people secure jobs? What skills are needed to rebuild Lebanon?
It is clear that we need new solutions going forward to address the needs, and young people can use technology to pave the way forward. Tech offers young people the opportunity to work remotely and participate in the global economy from Lebanon. Understanding how to utilise the most widely used software platforms and use technology to solve problems will help younger people in Lebanon to take control of their situations.
CodeBrave Tutors
One highlight this year is the creation of CodeBrave Tutors, a social enterprise that provides private online tutoring to children worldwide.
Here’s how it works: Keen young tech enthusiasts or curious learners are linked to one of our brilliant tutors to take courses in Game Development, Python, and more via individual or group sessions online.
And here’s the best bit: ‘One class purchased = one donated’
Feedback received has shown that the sessions have been fun, engaging and not held back by the distance between tutors and tutees.
“Ali made him love coding and my son was looking forward to each session,’ Hani, a parent said.
One mother, Aline also said: “Our sons’ tutor showed an exceptional ability to connect with the boys despite classes being over Zoom. Classes were stimulating and entertaining, allowing them to connect coding with robotics and making the experience a very tangible one.”
Looking Ahead
We are gearing up to educate at least 140 more students in the new year with our existing local partners and with two new ones!
Donate
You can contribute to CodeBrave’s work by donating to CodeBrave Foundation, a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1188692.
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