Microsoft Partners With CoderDojo

21st April 2015

Posted In: FYI
Mary Moloney, CEO of the CoderDojo Foundation and Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland

Microsoft announced yesterday that it will become an official European partner for the CoderDojo Foundation & Movement. Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland celebrated the partnership announcement with Mary Moloney, CEO of the CoderDojo Foundation at the company’s headquarters in Sandyford, Dublin.

With a digital skills gap continuing to widen across Europe, the aim of this new partnership is to support the CoderDojo movement across the region and to further encourage young people to learn to code. Microsoft have pledged their support to the CoderDojo Foundation as part of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative. Microsoft YouthSpark, is a global, company-wide initiative, which aims to improve education, employability and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people worldwide.

Cathriona Hallahan said: “In Ireland there is currently over 4,500 job vacancies in the ICT sector. Ensuring we educate our youth with the skills to work in these roles is essential. CoderDojo plays an important role in this regard and together we want to encourage every young person across Europe the opportunity to discover their digital potential and gain access to a CoderDojo club.”

As part of this partnership there are a number of key ways that Microsoft will be supporting and collaborating with the CoderDojo Foundation over the next 12 months, including:

– Collaborating at a European-level to promote CoderDojo and to encourage and support the creation of new Dojos across the region. CoderDojo will also be able to tap into Microsoft’s more than 25,000 employees across Europe as mentors who will support existing Dojos and facilitate in the establishment and hosting of new Dojos.

– Giving all European CoderDojos access to Microsoft’s DreamSpark program, which provides access to Microsoft software for learning, teaching and research purposes at no charge

– Microsoft will be a platinum partner at the upcoming Coder Dojo Coolest Projects Competition, which is the largest coding competition for kids globally, taking place in the RDS, Dublin  on 13th June.

– Microsoft Ireland has been hosting a Coder Dojo club for over three years, and will act as a showcase to other Microsoft locations throughout Europe.

Responding to the announcement, Mary Moloney said: “The support that Microsoft is providing to CoderDojo across Europe will enable the community to grow and to reach more kids and young people, enabling them to develop technology, innovation and entrepreneurial skills. As an organisation with such a strong portfolio of great technology products and with a talented workforce of skilled technologists, Microsoft is well positioned to support new and existing Dojos all over Europe.”

www.coderdojo.com

 

(Pictured L-R:  Mary Moloney, CEO of the CoderDojo Foundation and Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland.)