MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Unicodemy

One-line solution summary:

A women-led education initiative to empower young girls aged 10–18 years with coding and entrepreneurship skills.

Pitch your solution.

https://pasteapp.com/p/tuiGoqA...

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

The global technological and gender gaps make visible a situation in an era where digital transformation impacts the lives and work of women. It also offers women economic opportunities in areas such as e-commerce and flexible work arrangements. Nevertheless, digital technologies can widen the gender gap, if women lack some skills that are needed for some jobs.

For example, in Bolivia, from 2010 to 2015, only 1,500 women graduated with a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics undergraduate degree compared with 3,500 men.

Girls in low and middle-income economies such as those in Latin America are particularly disadvantaged in developing digital and computer science skills.

The gender gap is evidently growing, so the development of new initiatives is important for new generations.

What is your solution?

Girls need an education that equips them with STEAM skills to solve real-world problems. Our approach presents an introductory computer science education for girls on an interactive 30-hour coding bootcamp, featuring cartoon characters and an engaging storyline, has the potential to transform STEAM education.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Education-minded parents with 10–18-year-old daughters

Which dimension of the TPrize Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Offer training and flexible curriculum in hard (technical) and soft (social and interpersonal) skills, preparing people for the work of the future

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the TPrize Challenge.

We serve under-resourced girls in Bolivia and in a near future across Latin America and the Caribbean to help them develop the necessary coding and problem solving skills to access good jobs, better opportunities.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

La Paz, Bolivia

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

We selected the pilot stage because on 2020 we ran our first successful cohort with 901 girls in 9 cities in Bolivia.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Pamela Gonzales

More About Your Solution

If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:

unicodemy.org

If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful

What makes your solution innovative?

Results from our latest research showed a 55% increase in confidence level in technology-related problem solving and a 66.4% increase in confidence level in computer science knowledge after participating in Unicodemy. Data analysis also shows that the participants connected strongly with Codi. Particularly, 54% affirmed that the storyline motivated them to complete, and only 4.3% reported the content be too difficult to follow through. This shows that it is possible to involve girls in computer science fundamentals through multimedia storytelling.

Describe the core technology that powers your solution.

Unicodemy has a learn live online ed-tech platform.

Provide evidence that this technology works. Please cite your sources.

https://drive.google.com/file/...

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Software and Mobile Applications

Does this technology introduce any risks? How are you addressing or mitigating these risks in your solution?

We are in the process to create team exclusively to identify privacy and security issues and also set priorities since we work with minors we know that privacy and security is very important for us.

Select the key characteristics of your target population.

Women & Girls
Low-Income
Middle-Income

In which countries do you currently operate?

Bolivia

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

Canada
China
Costa Rica
Panama

How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

We are currently serving 269 girls and we served to date 1700 girls and we'll be serving 100 000 girls in the next 5 five years.

What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and -- importantly -- how will you achieve them?

Unicodemy is in the process of designing more books in the Looking for the Unicorn series. In the current two books we have written so far, we touched on the topics of tackling self-doubt, servicing the community, saving the environment, asking for help, disrupting the status quo and overcoming obstacles by breaking down problems into digestible steps. We will incorporate themes such as navigating a world powered by artificial intelligence, upholding humanity in the face of digitalization and more in the upcoming books. Concurrently, we will also launch a Zebra series to educate our target audience on zebra companies, which are social enterprises which seek not to disrupt but to adapt.

Our book is now available in Spanish and being translated into English at the moment. We aim to have it translated into Chinese, Korean and Japanese in the next five years after modifying the content to suit local taste.

How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?

We are measuring our progress collecting data from each participant before and after their participation in the program to finally portray it on a poster paper.

About Your Team

Your Business Model & Partnerships

Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities