“Coding Tomorrow” Participated in the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Implemented in collaboration with Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association, “Coding Tomorrow” was among the participants for the second time this year, following the World Summit on the Information Society held by the United Nations. The 6-year journey of "Coding Tomorrow" and the success stories achieved were recounted during an online session organized for the project at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Implemented by Vodafone Turkey Foundation and the Habitat Association to prepare children for digital future, "Coding Tomorrow" has added a new success to its international achievements. The project, which reached more than 260,000 young throughout Turkey, participated in the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development this year, following the World Summit on the Information Society held by the UN the previous year. The Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation Hasan Süel , Habitat Association Vice Chair Civan Sözkesen, and Coding Tomorrow Volunteer Instructor Melike Su Uzun, all joined in on the online training session for the project as speakers. The project's 6-year journey and success stories were recounted during the session.

Mr. Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation,stated :

"As Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association, we are resolutely continuing our 'Coding Tomorrow' project implemented 6 years ago to raise generations ready for the digital future. In a period where we think how we can use technology to serve for the good of society and respond a social need, we thought we could initiate a project to increase the technology literacy and familiarity of people first and start with children. Thus, in collaboration with the Habitat Association, we started teaching our children aged 7-14 to code, the digital world language, in August 2016. With our 'Coding Tomorrow' project, we aim to contribute to raising a generation that produces, not consumes. Until today, we have given coding training to over 260,000 children in 81 provinces. Next year, we plan to train 92,000 individuals in technology, including students, teachers, and families. Our "Coding Tomorrow" project keeps bringing about significant, constructive change for our children, parents, and volunteers. Our social impact report published for the third time this year revealed that the total social value we achieved last year with our project was around 14 million TRY. We also discovered each 1 TRY we invested in the project obtained a social return of 7,7 TRY. Last year, we had the chance to introduce our project to the world in the World Summit on the Information Society held by the United Nations. Participating in United Nations High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development, we feel right proud of being on the platform of United Nations for the second time. We will continue to prepare young generation for the digital future under the roof of the Vodafone Turkey Foundation."

Habitat Association Vice Chairman Civan Sözkesen,stated:

"We actively continue to bridge the digital divide in our country as part of the 'Coding Tomorrow'. With our 'Coding Tomorrow' project that we started in collaboration with Vodafone Turkey Foundation 6 years ago, we are expanding all our trainings and activities so that children become a generation that does not only consume technology but also knows and produces technology. With our online hackathons and idea marathons as part of the project, we show the ways to use the knowledge that children learn in the project to solve global problems with them. The Pandemic period has deeply affected formal education, just like many other areas, moving educational activities to the digital environment and heating our discussions on equal opportunity in education all the more so. In this period, access to education and technology for our children in disadvantaged areas has become even more challenging. Considering these reasons, we have enlarged the scope of our 'Coding Tomorrow' project to give more fair educational opportunities and facilitate access to technology, particularly for our children in rural areas. We provided 30 village schools across our country with fully functional technology classrooms. We will support 15 more village schools this year. Social impact analysis has allowed us to see the results of our project. The return on investment in the project increased by 75% to 7.7. This year, apart from the international organizations in which we engage to enhance the training's content, we also took part in the UN Sustainable Development High Level Political Forum, which gave us the chance to share our knowledge with other nations. With 'Coding Tomorrow,' we will keep working to close the digital divide in our country."

The project has reached over 260,000 children

Within the "Coding Tomorrow" project, children between 7-14 across Turkey receive theoretical and practical training by volunteer trainers on various subjects, including the introduction to programming, algorithm logic, application development, storytelling, and game development. In the trainings, children are given the opportunity to have an idea about programming, do activities that can uncover their creativity, create their own dream world, and produce their own games. Each 1 TRY invested in the project, which obtained 14 million TRY of social value in the last year, brought about a social return of 7,7 TRY . As part of the project, which reached over 260,000 children in 81 provinces to date, the aim is to provide technology training to 92,000 individuals in the upcoming year, including students, teachers, and families.