In 2015, global leaders at the United Nations General Assembly set a sustainable development agenda to protect the planet, eradicate poverty and improve people’s lives and prospects. The agenda is made up of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The fourth of the SDGs focuses on quality education to achieve upward socio-economic mobility and eradicate poverty.
At Globant we believe in the importance of education as an engine for the development and growth of countries. We believe that technology is a key tool to guarantee inclusive and equitable access to quality education. For this reason, during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we decided to adapt our educational programs and create new opportunities to contribute to improving education.
We want to be part of the solution, creating a value proposition with different tools to provide and guarantee quality education, both inside and outside Globant. We want to augment education and build the future of education through technology.
Scholarships: Promoting opportunities in IT education
Through Globant’s promotion of scholarships, we bet on young talent and help people enter the IT industry. We believe that by joining forces in alliance with key stakeholders, we can boost inspiration and participation in technology.
This year, in alliance with Mercado Libre, we launched 2,500 scholarships to study a two-year career with Digital House, accompanied by professionals of both companies. Young people in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay can apply to study this digital career path, emerging with the title of Certified Tech Developer, specialized either in front or back-end technologies.
Also, through our Code Your Future program in partnership with Acámica, we grant scholarships to people with no prior experience, but who are interested in joining the tech industry. During the last years, 1,000 scholarships have been granted to people from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Mexico
Globant University: Betting on continuous learning
We promote a culture of continuous learning, using practices to augment knowledge in a collaborative way. This culture is fundamental in order for people to be able to adapt to the increasingly dynamic labor market. Reskilling (acquiring new skills) and upskilling (perfecting current skills) are essential to be able to innovate and create new solutions.
To this end, during 2020, we launched the Globant University platform, which seeks to enhance the skills of our teams. It offers 29 learning paths with over 2,700 resources and learning methodologies. Resources vary from technical to soft-skills, including leadership skills, the importance of diversity, and smart working. By making these available to all our internal collaborators, at all times and in all time zones, we guarantee equal access for our 15,000 Globers around the world to learn, grow and develop professionally.
Inside Globant, we have also assembled a community of over 120 content creators, and more than 250 trainers, all working together to provide Globers with tools and learning paths. Our internal learning community is constantly growing, joining forces with the common goal of providing opportunities for personal and professional development.
Community Involvement on IT education
At Globant we seek to change the world, one person at a time. Through education, we aim to foster the participation and inclusion of minorities and underrepresented communities in the IT industry. Our programs focus on inspiring, training and helping people join the digital ecosystem, while also building bridges with local communities.
We seek to inspire and train young girls and women in technology. Our aim is to reduce the gender gap, through programs such as Chicas Programadoras, Empower Her, and initiatives in partnership with Laboratoria.
We also aim to train young people from vulnerable situations in IT, to help them join the labor force. We carry this out through programs in alliance with educational institutions such as Ánima Uruguay and SENA Colombia. This objective is also taken in partnership with NGOs such as HolaCode and NACME. We also collaborate with public institutions, with programs such as Plan Ceibal in Uruguay, TesteAR in Argentina, and with the regional mayor’s office of Medellín.
Technology for education
Technology allows for solutions to scale, enabling them to reach people at a global level, regardless of where they are. Through the development of educational applications, we can promote quality education at scale.
An example of this is DALE!, the web and Android application developed by Globant in collaboration with the civil association, Dale!. This app seeks to support the education of boys and girls in vulnerable situations, helping them to learn to read and write, even past the average literacy stage.
During the pandemic, we also collaborated with Acámica in the creation of the Seguimos Educando program for the Ministry of Education of Argentina. Through this initiative, we offered over 20 free courses in digital skills.
Future of work and education
Our commitment to education has allowed us to be granted the honor of being invited to integrate the Future of Work and Education Taskforce of the B20, the business chapter of the G20. Martín Umaran, our Chief of Staff and Co-Founder, has participated as co-chair of the task force since 2018. The goal is to generate recommendations to provide opportunities for quality education and prepare people worldwide for the challenges of the current labor market.
Our objective is to keep on contributing to the training of more people, regardless of gender or economic status, to help them grow professionally in a more equitable society. More than ever, we want to carry on building bridges between education and technology.
