WorldRemit software engineer Zaira Rasool launches new initiative, Coderoots, to build digital education spaces in the Gambia to provide sustainable tech education solutions for young Africans.
Fund Digital Education
London-based software engineer Zaira Rasool has stepped up her mission to fund digital education in The Gambia after being awarded a 拢5,000 grant by cross-border digital payments service,聽WorldRemit.聽The Catherine Wines bursary was created in memory of the late co-founder of the fintech company.
Over聽half (56%) of The Gambia鈥檚 population is under 25 years of age, with limited access to a fixed broadband connection and the impact of COVID-19, young people face聽significant聽challenges聽to their employment and educational ambitions.
Coderoots
With this in mind,聽Zaira launched聽Coderoots聽in partnership with聽Odiri聽Ighamre, Co-Founder & CEO of Kori Youth Charity (UK) and Co-Founder & Director of Daughters of Africa NGO (Gambia). Coderoots聽is dedicated to creating sustainable solutions to聽digital access and tech education聽for young talent in Africa.
Coderoots mentors NGOs to set up digital education spaces,聽focussing on聽regions with the least access to basic technology. The initial pilot programme is Abuko Digital Hub in The Gambia, which provides a space for young people to use computers, as well as virtual mentoring provided by experts from all over the world.
Along with plenty of international travel under her belt, Zaira has 10 years鈥� experience working within grassroots organisations.聽Coderoots was formed after she ran a series of workshops in Gambia to train micro-businesses in Enterprise and met highly-motivated聽 people.聽Having launched the initial crowdfunder in February 2020 and raising 拢4,000, Coderoots has gone from strength to strength ever since.
New Initiative
The project would not function without the leadership of Odiri Ighamre, who oversees the Gambia-based NGOs activities and has over 30 years鈥� of experience in the third-sector.聽So far, the initiative has run nine courses in accounting, law, art and design, coding, drama, architecture and more. Additionally, the partnership has completed 45 mentoring sessions in architecture, teacher training, media, marketing and more. The duo鈥檚 initiative has also established partnerships with the University of West England and Coding Black Females.
Zaira Rasool, software engineer at WorldRemit and founder of Coderoots, commented: 鈥淐oderoots is a team of experts from across the technology sector that have a vision to create opportunities and develop technology in the places that have least access to basic technology.
鈥淲hat I found when I visited The Gambia is that there is a population of people that are really motivated and really driven to learn, but just don鈥檛 have the resources. Currently, initiatives that try to resolve the growing global tech divide are often short term, and mainly invest where some infrastructure already exists. Our vision is to create long term change by working from the grassroots – creating community-driven hubs in these areas, which find financial stability over time by supporting young people and helping them start their own business or find employment.”
Arnaud Loiseau, CEO (International) at WorldRemit, said:聽鈥淲ith WorldRemit鈥檚 support to drive economic development, enhance skills and create jobs, whilst extending the project to various countries lacking technology and broadband access, there鈥檚 a bright future ahead for the Coderoots initiative.鈥�
