UNESCO partners with QCRI to train youth on mobile apps coding
©UNESCO
Within UNESCO's framework to provide youth with 21st century skills, including digital literacy and access to information, and to bolster youth leadership in the technology sector, UNESCO Doha collaborated with Qatar Computing and Research Institute (QCRI) to train more than 50 youth from the French-Qatari Lycee Voltaire on mobile apps development and coding as part of the Week of Science on 5 April 2017 in Doha.
The training was led by Dr Eman Ali Fituri, Director of Educational Initiatives at QCRI, who trained students on building mobile apps using AppInventor, a tool develop by MIT Media Lab which seeks to introduce young people to computer science programming (learning-to-code) and problem solving (coding-to-learn).
Innovative apps were developed by the students in a short lapse of time after having received mentorship from QCRI and support from UNESCO. The workshop provided an opportunity for youth aged 12 to 15 years old studying at the French-Qatari Lycee Voltaire (Salwa) to develop their creativity, ideas and strengthen their skills using technology.
The students were invited to present their apps to their peers, QCRI, UNESCO and their teachers at the end of the event.
Commenting on the initiative, UNESCO Doha Communication and Information Senior Programme Assistant said that "YouthMobile builds on the experience of many worldwide initiatives and strives to provide young people in Qatar with the high-level skills and confidence to develop, promote, and sell locally relevant mobile apps that solve local issues of sustainable development and foster youth entrepreneuship".
Dr Eman Ali Fituri said that "as a leading computing research entity in Qatar, QCRI is keen on getting the youth excited on learning how to code and becoming creators rather than consumers of technology. Developing mobile apps using App Inventor is free, easy to learn, and readily accessible to anyone, and it is heart-warming to see the excitement of the students as they see their own mobile apps come to life.”
Djouida Sahraoui, ICT Professor at the Lycee Voltaire, appreciated the level of enthusiasm among the youth and added "it was great to see students develop their creativity and see the results of their work on a mobile app they had created themselves".
The YouthMobile workshop was organized as part of the French Week of Science which aims to strengthen the link between researchers, tech experts, educators and the public, including youth.
QCRI is a private non-for-profit national research institute under Hamad Bin Khalifa University, established in 2010 by Qatar Foundation to build Qatar’s innovation and technology capacity, tackling large-scale computing challenges that address national priorities for growth and development.
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