ReDI School of Digital Integration

Many European countries are in need of better integration of their refugee and migrant population. Refugees and migrants want decent jobs. The local industry needs IT talent. Societies need fast integration. ReDI School offers a win-win-win situation.

ReDI School provides students with valuable digital skills and a strong network of tech leaders, mentors and alumni to help create new opportunities for all. By making digital education available to everyone, our students are empowered and equipped to start a meaningful career in the tech industry. ReDI School thrives through its diverse community that values individual contributions and promotes social cohesion. 

With ReDI School’s goal to especially inspire girls and women to pursue a career in digital, we counteract the existing gender-gap within the IT industry. By providing career development services and connecting students to hiring recruiters, ReDI facilitates the autonomy and economic integration of marginalized communities.

According to Eurostat, an estimated 2.4 million people immigrated to the EU in 2018. More than 612,000 people were seeking asylum in one of the EU countries in 2019. Yet, many struggle to find employment. Of the 2.3 million unemployed in Germany, almost half have a migrant background. The unemployment rates amongst migrants are twice as high as for non-migrants, both in Germany (12,4% vs. 5%) and in Denmark (8% vs. 4,6%). The Corona crisis does not make this issue any smaller, as this group is often the first to be fired and the last to be hired. 

In the past refugees have often taken low-paid and low-skilled manual jobs. However, these jobs are at risk of being automated. And in a time of crisis (such as COVID-19) these are the first jobs to disappear. ‘Future proof’ jobs are likely to be in maintenance and programming of machines. The European Commission estimates that there will be a shortage of 800,000 ICT workers in Europe by 2020. ReDI School steps in to develop new demand-oriented qualifications and professional development programs to increase employability of marginalized communities in the IT sector.

ReDI School offers free high-quality digital literacy and coding classes for tech-interested “newcomers” as well as locals without access to digital education or a professional network. Technical skills are taught in the form of several 3-4-months IT and programming courses, creative workshops, Tech Talks, innovation projects as well as short term summer courses. Additionally, ReDI School provides soft skills training, matches its students with mentors and organizes networking events with companies for fast-track integration into jobs. ReDI collaborates with 100+ large and small IT companies, public sector institutions, schools and community centers to give students access to practical training, company visits, and internships.

ReDI School teachers are all volunteers, who work professionally as either tech experts (teaching tech and coding classes) or HR experts (providing soft skills training). This presents great opportunities: The volunteers teach exactly the skills that are required in the professional world, ReDI can offer students the classes for free and we build a ReDI community of more than 600 professionals linked to the digital industry. 

With targeted programs directed at women, youth and children ReDI works to empower a new generation of tech leaders to aim at a dignified career in the digital sector.

Since the opening of the first ReDI School in 2016, more than 2,600 students from over 40 nations have been trained for the job market. Currently, ReDI School targets three different participant groups, mostly within low-income communities: 1) IT-interested job-seekers of all ages; 2) Refugee and migrant women who are being trained in digital literacy; and 3) Children and youth from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds.

At all times ReDI works together with the end users and the entire ecosystem supporting the job market integration of refugees and underrepresented groups to create a strong practical program. 

When in the first few years only 10% of ReDI students were women, we decided to hold several co-creation sessions with groups of women to figure out how we needed to adapt the program to make it work for them. We quickly realized that we needed to offer more basic digital literacy classes, shift the timing of the classes to weekends instead of week nights and provide for childcare. Now we have more than 200 women participating in courses at our Digital Women Programs across Berlin, Munich and Denmark. In our regular Digital Career Program women now make up around 40% of students.

By training the most vulnerable parts of society in technological skills and facilitating their entry into work through soft skills training and access to a professional network, ReDI provides them with the necessary building blocks to start a dignified career.

The ReDI course curriculum has been developed considering the latest job market data on the most in demand digital skills (e.g. Java, Python) and will continue to adapt to address the respective labor shortages. 

Many ReDI students found good jobs or opportunities as interns or trainees in renowned international and national companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, or Accenture.

What makes ReDI unique is its co-creation, user-centered development approach. We build new programs and continue to develop existing programs in close collaboration with the students. Through substantial questionnaires, interviews, workshops and systematic feedback given during the courses, ReDI makes sure to provide curricula and services that fit the needs of its beneficiaries. 

ReDI’s strong community spirit makes the solution genuine and powerful. ReDI School often serves as a first home for people who do not yet have a network or are not yet integrated into society. Many of our former students come back as mentors and teachers in some of the later semesters. We believe that technology can be a means to strengthen the social fabric and contribute to social cohesion. By providing free digital training ReDI School creates a shared space and goal for people from different walks of life to meet, interact and override stereotypes and hate. 

ReDI’s gender approach to digital literacy and education is another unique characteristic. By providing childcare and considering language skills and cultural sensitivities, our digital education courses targeted at women take into account the specific needs and interests of our female students. Classes are offered on Saturday mornings to allow for a flexible schedule. This all enables women to invest in their education. Our “by women, for women courses” also promote self-confidence, provide a climate for participants to voice their questions and opinions, learn from role-models and become role-models themselves. Today, more than 60% of ReDI students are women.

ReDI School is a promoter, distributor and multiplier of technology. We teach people how to safely and effectively use technology to be able to make a decent living. Our students can take lessons in e.g. Python, Java, JavaScript, CSS, React, UX/UI Design, Front-End Web Development or Internet of Things. In collaboration with partners we also offer specialized courses in company software such as Salesforce or Microsoft Azure. In our Digital Women Program we start with the basics and teach digital and coding literacy. After a few courses the women are ReDI to join the programming classes of our regular Digital Career Program. With children we use playful approaches such as offering robotics workshops to spark the kids’ interest in technology and strengthen their digital skills.  

For ReDI’s daily functioning the use of digital tools and programs is indispensable. Particularly, the COVID-19 crisis has pushed us to completely go virtual. With the help of different video conference tools we are able to hold all our classes and events online. A special virtual class experience was set up for the women’s beginner course in Munich, which received its digital literacy introduction via WhatsApp sessions. The ReDI community relies heavily on social media for its communication, the recruiting of students and volunteers as well as the exchange of ideas and advice.

ReDI also provides students with hardware such as laptops, mice, headphones, and during the Corona crisis also USB Wi-Fi adapters and SIM cards, to use for the period of the course.

It is common knowledge that digital education today is crucial to keep up with a changing work environment. ReDI School is committed to fill the gap of providing digital skills to underrepresented communities to allow them to take on a decent and dignified career. Digital literacy is by now a prerequisite to be able to meaningfully participate in today’s life. “Connecting all the world’s people by 2030 must be our shared priority, not only for sustainable development, but for gender equality”, remarked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the Internet Governance Forum after a visit at ReDI School in Berlin in November 2019.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis has pushed companies and institutions to accelerate the digital transformation to be better prepared for future shocks. Only people who have the necessary digital competence to navigate online will be well-equipped to direct their future paths. ReDI School teaches current and future workers the necessary tech and soft skills to be able to thrive in this age of digital transformation.

ReDI School is convinced of its win-win-win approach. ReDI students ‘win’ valuable digital skills and a professional network that increase their chances of finding decent work and integrating faster into society. Bringing underrepresented groups into jobs creates a ‘win’ for companies filling the increasing number of IT vacancies with diverse talent. When social and economic integration succeeds, it's a ‘win’ for society because it builds the foundation for peaceful and equitable communities. 

Last year an internal study revealed that 94.5% of students reported to have gained increased clarity about their personal and professional goals at the end of their program at ReDI School. A similar amount of students (92.5%) confirmed that they grew their professional network.

In terms of improved employability a 2019 survey of ReDI alumni found that around 50% were in some form of fixed employment, out of which were 36% in full time-jobs, 9% in paid internships and 5% working as trainees. Another 32% were studying at a university, 2% founded a company and 3% worked as freelancers. Only 13% were looking for a job at the time (ReDI Berlin Survey, March 2019). 

ReDI alumni also profit from the career development support that is offered by ReDI School. Around 91% of students reported that they felt prepared to write a good CV at the end of their program at ReDI School.

Further, ReDI believes in inclusion and the power of staff diversity. We contribute by providing the tech industry access to a diverse talent pool of tech-savvy refugees, migrants and other marginalized groups. With a special focus on empowering women and offsetting the existing gender-gap within the IT industry, ReDI’s female students do not only gain new digital skills, but demonstrate more self-confidence and independence which can positively affect their children, families and entire communities.

Since 2016, ReDI School has reached more than 2,600 students from 40+ countries completing at least one course. At present we operate in four different locations: Berlin, Munich, Duisburg (Germany) and Copenhagen (Denmark).

Currently, in our spring semester 2020 we have about 735 students enrolled across four locations. From August 2020 we will open a new school in Düsseldorf. Over 500 volunteers are active in our community as teachers, mentors, and tech or HR experts. 

In 2021 we aim to reach 1,500 people who will take at least one course with ReDI School. In five years, our goal is to serve 2,500 students across ten locations and work with a community of 1,000 volunteers from the tech industry. In addition, we wish to open an online school independent of location.

ReDI School follows the principle ‘nail it before you scale it’. In five years time, ReDI School aims to be active in five countries in Europe, to have an online school independent of location, and to have built an IT-infrastructure (CRM, learning management tool and a community platform) that allows for scaling on a global level.

In the long term, we aspire to develop a social franchise concept, which can be adapted locally by social entrepreneurs who will be trained by ReDI’s HQ. We aspire to develop the world’s largest and most impactful “tech-for-good” social network of volunteers and tech companies.

• Climate change forcing more people to migrate and increasing the pressure on EU member states, which may lead to the rise of extremist groups 

• Global financial recession may make corporate funding more difficult

• Availability of sustainable funding 

• Bureaucratic collaboration with government structures jeopardizing stable, long-term funding (e.g. job centers, EU, Ministry of Integration, etc.)

• Implementation of affordable IT-infrastructure: development, implementation and maintenance

• Recruitment and training of staff to lead each new location according to corporate culture

• Finding affordable and central locations to teach in

• Climate change: 

  • Online learning making it possible to attend classes from anywhere with internet access

  • Revised security measures to keep the community safe of harassment from extremist groups

• Global financial recession:

  • Diversified income sources. Keep working with many partners from many different industries

  • Increasing the number of partners from industries that are not influenced by the recession (e.g. tech and consulting)

  • Set-up of public-private partnerships (matching grants) to incentivize companies to support 

• Sustainable funding:

  • Revising the business model by building a hybrid organisation with a “for-profit” entity
    

  • Long-term partnerships with foundations (3-5 years)

  • Long-term partnerships with educational institutions (e.g. universities)

  • Public-private partnerships

  • Cross-sector collaboration

• Collaboration with bureaucratic structures:

  • Conduct a social impact bonds pilot study to demonstrate how the government can save significant cost by investing in impact-driven organisations

  • Maintain our AZAV certification (German 'Approval of educational institutions and activities Act')
    

  • Invite political influencers and thought leaders to visit the school

  • Media appearance and public speaking about the need for less bureaucracy and more impact bonds

  • Keep engagement in network organizations such as VDU, Bitkom and SEND

• IT infrastructure: continue implementation of structure with the help of our partners (Capgemeni, Deloittte, Accenture, Microsoft and Salesforce)

• Staff & culture: Create internal corporate culture “playbook” and continue trainings across all schools

• Locations: continue partnerships with organizations with global presence (to use their locations to teach in)

ReDI School’s current staff consists of 45 employees across four locations. In Berlin and Munich ReDI employs 15 people full-time, 30 part-time and 1 freelance consultant. In Copenhagen 3 people work full-time in addition to 4 people part-time. Our newest location in the west of Germany will officially offer courses in the fall. Overall we have around 500 volunteers supporting the teaching, mentorship and career development of students. 

In all locations, ReDI team members and volunteer teachers represent an international diverse group of people (30+ nationalities), promoting diversity and social cohesion across and beyond Europe.

ReDI School of Digital Integration was founded in 2015 by a team convinced that technology can break down barriers and bring people together to build new solutions to old problems. CEO and Co-Founder Anne Kjaer Bathel, a Rotary Peace Fellow, founded the Berlin Peace Innovation Lab in collaboration with Stanford in 2013. This community of practitioners, which effectively connects the startup and tech industry with the non-profit and social innovation sector, proved to be critical for the school's development. Finally, a conversation Anne had with a refugee and former software developer in Berlin sparked the idea of a coding school for refugees. A public appeal for support on social media immediately gained traction. A diverse team was formed consisting of successful entrepreneurs, tech experts and strong corporate partners. Through co-creation activities with refugees the concept was further developed. By 2016 the first students enrolled at ReDI School in Berlin. In 2017 ReDI School opened in Munich with the support of the City of Munich. In 2019 Copenhagen followed as well as Düsseldorf in 2020. 

The ReDI team thrives because of its diversity. Our staff represents more than 30 nationalities, some with a refugee background themselves, which makes our identification with migrant issues even stronger. We complement each other by bringing together a diverse set of professional backgrounds: from IT, education, business administration, international development, community management to HR and marketing. We value and encourage participation on all levels. Our programs are developed and constantly evaluated in collaboration with the beneficiaries.

ReDI School partners with more than 80 companies across all locations. Main areas of support include funding of staff, development of teaching content for our ReDI curricula and special company courses (e.g. Salesforce), community building through event management, job market integration with HR partners as well as the provision of premises and equipment. ReDI usually works with Tech, HR and CSR departments. This is how we build a powerful network of diverse professional experts (our ReDI volunteers) supporting and connecting with a diverse group of upcoming tech talents (our ReDI students). Many of our volunteer teachers work for the companies we partner with. They form a diverse community mapping more than 30 nationalities. They value their engagement as an opportunity to gain teaching experience and drive impact through the use of tech for good. 

ReDI School’s main funding partners (80.000 Euro+) in 2020 are Accenture, Cisco, Chanel Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation, Deutsche Bahn Stiftung, Deoitte, JP Morgan Foundation, Klöckner & Co, Microsoft, City of Munich (MBQ), Rotary International, Société Générale Foundation and Velux Foundation.

Further relevant funding partners include Allgeier Experts, Amazon, Capgemini, Facebook, FC Bayern, Finanzchef 24, Henkel, Ignore Gravity, PxP, SAP, Salesforce.org and Tides Foundation. 

Additionally, we partner with a number of regional companies and organizations in Berlin, Munich, and Copenhagen to run the local schools - they provide support through funding, premises, equipment, hiring and volunteers.

From the beginning ReDI School’s business development strategy has been to diversify our income streams as much as possible to secure sustainable growth. 

The cost per student is on average 1,000 EUR per semester. The 2019 operational budget was 1.2 million euro. The income sources were split between: ⅓ corporate partnerships (Deloitte, Klöckner & Co, Cisco, Facebook, etc.), ⅓ donations from foundations (JPM Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation, Chanel Foundation, Societe Generale Foundation, etc.) and ⅓ government funding (MBQ). Less than 5% of the operational budget comes from self-earned revenue (keynotes and workshops) and crowdfunding. 

To achieve more economic independence, we wish to generate more stable, long-term income streams. Two years ago we invested 40,000 EUR to get AZAV-certified as a service provider to the German job center - as recommended to us by government officials and large pro-bono consultancies. The investment has not yet paid off due to an extremely bureaucratic system at the job center. We have tried to work with the job center without success. We even worked with the University of Potsdam to do a study on the barriers for social impact organisations working with job centers. We also implemented two design thinking workshops with the job center to develop news ways of working with them. All activities have been in vain so far. 

EU funding is a potential future opportunity to scale up, but the initiatives we spoke to recommend us not to apply due to the high upfront investment costs and the extreme bureaucratic reporting process.

ReDI School is looking for partners to further develop its business model and help create more sustainable funding partnerships.

ReDI School is also keen to open up new schools in sub-Saharan Africa. We are already in discussions with local and international development partners such as the German GIZ, which aims to help create new jobs on the African continent.

• Business model to become more financially independent, e.g. develop services that can be sold such as training migrant and refugee alumni to become tech-trainers in companies to upskill the local workforce. This will create jobs and revenue at the same time.

• Funding: find new funding sources from foundations and wealthy private individuals who are interested in creating social impact.

• Funding: putting together a case study that demonstrates the cost savings for governments if they were willing to invest in social impact bonds. (paying for impact!)

• Monitoring and Evaluation: learning from best practices. 

• Other: free access to content, curriculum, tests and certifications through MIT programs.

ReDI School’s success would have not been possible without a strong network of partners and supporters. 

• We aim to find better ways to work together with more public or governmental institutions to allow our programs become widely promoted and recognized. Our ultimate goal is to lever more systemic change.

• Further, we look for public and private sector partners in other countries, esp. in sub-Saharan Africa, to help us export and adapt the ReDI solution to different environments.

• We also seek technical support to enhance our gender approach and build a program targeted at young girls specifically. Another marginalized group that we would like to reach in the future are people with disabilities. With the help of specialized organisations we aim to co-create a new program that will help increase job opportunities for people with disabilities using digital skills.

• A partnership with MIT Media Lab to do research on teaching digital skills to socially marginalized groups would be great.

• Collaboration with PH.D. or PostDocs who are researching social impact bonds.

• It would be great to connect ReDI Students to MIT students doing Master Degrees in Computer Science, to have the MIT students mentor the ReDI Students 1-1.

• Partner with other non-profits or initiatives working on the same area to share experiences and maybe scale partners, such as HolaCode in Mexico, WFP's EMPACT in two refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey.

ReDI School’s primary goal was to accelerate the integration of refugees in their new home countries. By supporting them in acquiring a relevant skill set and a strong network, these groups are better equipped to attain economic, financial and political inclusion. Digital literacy and access to digital media are vital to succeed professionally and socially in today’s world. ReDI School aims to minimize the digital divide and lays the foundation for refugees to become self-reliant and resilient. 

We will use the Prize to invest in further co-creation approaches to protect the sustainability of our programs. Further, the Prize will serve as a financial boost to realize the establishment of new ReDI schools, which are currently being planned in Düsseldorf, Spain and online. We also believe that the recognition inherent with this prize will allow us to create stronger public and private partnerships. 

ReDI School provides training in basic and advanced digital skills to empower and encourage youth, men and women of refugee, migrant and socio-economically disadvantaged groups to pursue a career in the digital industry. With a special focus on reaching women, ReDI School aims to increase the diversity of IT staff in companies and help create a more inclusive and sustainable development of digital solutions. 

ReDI School will use the Prize money to invest in the provision of dedicated and adequate career development support for students who are interested in starting a career in tech. We may also want to invest the Prize in our planned online ReDI School and efforts to support digital entrepreneurship. We also plan to create a pool of money that students can apply for to pay for their own laptop and internet access when they have completed their course(s) at ReDI School. This way, the students can continue to practice and develop their digital skills independently and make the invested efforts last longer.

ReDI School teaches digital literacy to underserved communities to increase their skill set and allow them to lead dignified and independent lives. Digital skills allow people to control their own finances, keep track of their personal health data, apply for jobs, and be part of social, professional and political communities online. Our students have diverse educational backgrounds. We teach women with very limited digital skills and an overall low level of education up to people who have obtained university degrees but may be forced to change their profession and acquire new skills. 

We will use the Prize to advance our digital literacy programs to include also other marginalized groups such as people with disabilities. Building a ReDI School in Lisbon would be a welcome opportunity to also serve the communities there building on our co-creation approach. 

We are already well connected with the start-up scene in Lisbon through “House of Beautiful Business”, “WebSummit” and our network of local entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, accelerators and investors such as Simon Schäfer, who is renovating a former military factory next to the Tagus River in downtown Lisbon.

Several of the ReDI School team members in Berlin speak Portuguese and many of our existing global partners have offices in Lisbon.