Code 2 Change 2.0 : Teaching Girls( Age 10+) App Development

Problem: In Pakistan, girls comprise 57% of all out of school children and face gender discrimination due to traditional, religious, social and economic reasons. They are subsequently seriously underrepresented in STEM careers. According to the World Economic Forum, only 4.9% of engineering jobs are held by women in Pakistan. Negative stereotypes, social and
peer pressure, a lack of encouragement and the perceived marginalization of women who work in STEM fields have all been identified as factors that discourage young women from pursuing careers in science.Our

Co-Founder of Robotronics Pakistan, Engr. Saba Farhan (Gold Medalist Mechatronics Engineer) firmly believes that gender discrimination in STEM has to be addressed by not only verbal awareness campaigns but also by promoting various hands-on skills among the girls where they will challenge the negative stereotypes and excel in the digital environment. We understand the opportunities the technology field has to offer, so providing them an equal opportunity is the first and the foremost step towards making them an integral part of the society.

Project Code to Change 2.0: C2C will provide Android App Development skills to girls from different areas of Pakistan onsite and online. This project will infuse App development skills in more than 1000 female students (aged 10 and above) nationwide through MIT APP DEVELOPMENT COURSE.

Our curriculum is specifically designed in a way that makes it easier for the children to understand the logic of programming and turn their imagination into reality which further leads them to be more confident and motivated. For this purpose, we use a reputed software “MIT App Inventor” which is designed to teach and make a difference in the children.   The attendees/girls will be able to build their own Android Applications by the end of the course.

This project will mainly focus on following impact: 

• Innovative solutions in the form of Android applications which will address the socio-economic needs of the society.

• This activity will empower them to compete with dominant views not only locally but internationally resulting in self-recognition as well

• Prepare a competent workforce to address the future workforce requirements by empowering these girls to bring a change through their skills

It is important to challenge the traditional notions around STEM careers; to show girls that the creative application of STEM (be it Fashion to Music to Sports) is increasingly relevant today. We not only want to prepare our girls to enter the workforce but also to lead it, improve it and completely transform it.  

‘WE ARE ON A MISSION TO CLOSE THE GENDER GAP IN TECH’

It will open doors especially to the girls who face social isolation because of traditional and gender norms. This program will develop their logical and creative thinking skills and make them believe that nothing is impossible.

"We need girl inventors, designers, programmers and thinkers,

Girls who want to change the way world works and live for the better."

Robotronics Pakistan has been providing its services from past 3 years to different schools and individuals across different regions of Pakistan. During the COVID-19 crisis, we did provide online courses as well. We have been constantly running online courses every week from April 2020 and till date we have successfully trained 15200+ students (online and physically). We have been approved by the British Council to conduct STEM projects in Pakistan and have successfully completed their project in the "Women of the World" Festival where we trained 250 girls for Android App Development in the span of 2 months. This number shows the capacity at which we can conduct such projects and would like to take it forward from there as we have observed the potential among the girls to further create their App Stores and manage them accordingly eventually leading up to become entrepreneurs. The video of our project with British Council is shared below.  

Review Link: https://fb.watch/c3406kjlrv/

We are experienced in providing these skills to the children from different socio-economic backgrounds by reaching out to them by our already built volunteer force in different cities and our network of teachers in different educational institutes of Pakistan. Our trainers do not follow the conventional teaching methodologies, in fact they are trained to deliver the knowledge through fun-based learning techniques. 

We have successfully trained 1200+ students (in App Development) and many of our students have already created their Google Play Store Accounts and are now on road to achieve greater heights, exposure and financial independency.

Our trainers for this program will only consist of trained and experienced Engineers as we firmly believe that the quality of deliverance MUST be at par.

• To execute the Code 2 Change Project, we would require a grant of 100,000 USD.
• We are looking forward to MIT Solve as we are using platforms built by MIT itself and are looking to scale the numbers and create a difference in the area that we are working upon.
• We would also require mentor-ship, coaching & strategic advice from industry experts. We are always willing to change the project as per the advice from MIT Solve experts to increase the impact and effectiveness of the project.
• We would also like to gain exposure in the media and at conferences related to MIT Solve.
• MIT Solve being a reputed name, will positively impact the mindsets of the girls which will receive the Android App Development training.

As the lack in number of girls working in the field of STEM still exists in Pakistan, our solution enables them to:
- Think as innovators by encouraging them to work in this field.
- Independency; earn a livelihood for them.
- Be equipped with the technical and entrepreneurial skills to build apps and develop trust in themselves.  

This project will give a chance to young girls to explore, showcase, engage
and exhibit their tech-driven innovations in addressing community
matters that range from gender, education, politics, leadership,
entrepreneurship, environment, and many more.

Girls need access to technological education and our efforts can give them access to information about their productive, reproductive and community roles empowering them to have a meaningful voice in the society.

In the first year, we look forward to train 1000 girls in the field of App Development. We are striving to transform their lives by equipping them with technological and creative skills which will further enhance their earning capacity by using the Google Play Store.
In the next five years, we plan to increase the numbers by conducting Teacher Training Programs TTP's; who will further train the girls on their individual capacities (using the platform of Robotronics Pakistan) creating a ripple effect in the society and running awareness campaigns to engage more girls who will play an important role in the development of this industry in Pakistan.

Awareness Campaigns shall be of the following types:
- Conduct Workshops and Seminars on App Development and STEM Education
- Arrange App Development Competitions
- Coding Club for Girls
- Hackathon

We will accomplish our mission through hands-on workshops, classes,
hackathons, and events that encourage women to pursue App Development.
Although we are based in Lahore, our impact is nationwide as we will run campaigns and programs across the country. We will offer support to young women ranging from elementary school to college students and beyond.

Gender Equality: By engaging more girls in the field of STEM Education

Industry Innovation and Infrastructure: By conducting competitions,
where new ideas are produced and implemented to further enhance the
reliability in this field.

No Poverty: Conducting periodic checks to monitor the growth of Google
Play Store Accounts of the participants and provide assistance to them
to enhance their income.

Decent Work and Economic Growth: By promoting App Development, we are encouraging a sustainable solution where the participants can grow as an entrepreneur without any investment.

Quality Education: By conducting periodic Audits to make sure that the progress is as per the goals defined.

1. Voice:

Strengthen their agency – in terms of voice, participation and decision-making –over their own health, future financial and career choices, and social interaction.

2. Critical Understanding:

Enable them to critically understand social and environmental issues in the world around them, actively participate in debates to solve such problems, and propose relevant solutions.

3. Learning Outcomes:

Motivate them to learn and achieve at the highest levels, helping to close gender gaps in the field of App Development in Pakistan.

4. Transition to Employment:

Facilitate their transitions to employment

5. Empowerment:

Empower them to be innovators, entrepreneurs, and change makers.

We will be using MIT APP INVENTOR as a tool.

When people make Apps, they learn:

• valuable STEAM skills like coding, programming, graphic design, and content creation
• how to solve real-world problems with digital design.

Whether tackling challenges at school, within the community, or even on a global scale – knowing how to build apps empowers students to meaningfully change their environment through technological intervention.

MIT App Inventor is a free, browser-based development tool designed to enable people of all ages and levels of coding experience, to learn the basics of programming and create their own Android Apps.

Like MIT's popular coding-teaching tool – Scratch,  App Inventor features a visually organized, block-style, drag-and-drop coding interface. It gives newcomers to programming, the opportunity to program without prior knowledge of any of the programming languages. 

• App Inventor allows the programming of Apps for Android devices only.
• It enables users to creatively customize the functions of an Android phone like location, SMS texting, the camera, speakers, video and more. 
• App Inventor is often an entry point for school-age newcomers to programming and App Development.
• It has a dedicated community forum for troubleshooting and knowledge-sharing.

Our leadership team comprises of male as well as female Engineers coming from different backgrounds, thinking under one roof and creating solutions to raise the bar of equity by providing equal opportunities.

Our business revenue model depends on the following:

1. B2C: We sell online courses and physical on-site courses for the children

2 B2B: We provide our services to all the educational institutes out there to promote Robotics and sill-development

3. B2G: In Business to Government, we conducted various skill-development programs funded by the government

The impact of this Revenue model is huge and as it brings together all the possible revenue streams.

We provide a large range of services for eg:

LEGO Robotics

Arduino Robotics

Scratch Animations and Game Development

MIT Android App Development

Video Editing Skills

Graphic Designing

Wordpress Web Development

All the above mentioned services/skill are provided through online and on-site courses. These skill are required to prepare the future workforce.

We have a team of internationally experienced engineers who are working to promote STEM education in Pakistan.  

From the establishment of the company till date, Robotronics Pakistan has been earning profit from Day-1. The company has a reasonable profit margin and works mostly on the available funds through various revenue streams. Also the company applies for various grants to promote Robotics and STEM education in this part of the world. We recently received a grant from British Council as well. Plus we have been working on various projects on government level as well. To be precise, Robotronics Pakistan has multiple revenue streams. We have signed MOUs with more than 40 renowned educational institutes in Pakistan where we will be handling their Robotic and Skill-development clubs.

We received a grant from British Council to teach Android App Development to unprivileged girls in Pakistan.

We have generated a total revenue of 700,000USD till date. (PKR 127,645,000/- approx.)

The company has a shared capital of 50,000USD (PKR 9,117,500 approx.)

The purpose of Code 2 Change project is to provide education which is useful for the children and helps them in attaining financial stability.