By the end of 2016, nearly 5.2 million refugees and migrants treacherously reached European shores, leaving their war-torn countries rife with prosecution and misfortune. That number, 4 years on, is still rising and there’s no indication of it stopping and that’s due to the plethera of ongoing crises that continue to inundate many developing countries.
This migrant crisis is not a new one. It’s not something you haven’t heard of before. It’s become something that we have accepted, even in its excessive form. The growth of this excessive form is undoubtedly going to start affecting our lives more and more. At the moment, however, for the majority in developed countries, the impact of such high numbers of migrants doesn’t affect day to day lives directly. At some point it will and I’m certain it’s then, only then, at the brink of collapse, will the crisis be given the attention it truly deserves. Though, it isn’t the responsibility of public individuals to manage the migrant crisis, it’s the duty of our governments. It’s still not hard to see why public individuals do nonetheless want to get involved in resolving this growing crisis; the government are limited in what they can do for migrants when they arrive, either by cruel choice or brutal necessity; take your pick. So knowing there is an influx of people on the way with a potential lack of warmth by the home crowd, what do you start to think about? How do you flip this into a good situation? Here’s one way.
PowerCoders is a coding academy specifically for refugees, who take part in a 13 week coding bootcamp, followed by a 12 month internship. Founded in Switzerland, PowerCoders is a not-for-profit organisation dependent on volunteers to drive their mission, along with the support of the Swiss government, foundations, companies and people. With a second centre in Italy, along with the flagship Swiss centre, the PowerCoders community continues to grow in its support by volunteers and respectively in its impact of training refugees and getting them into IT based roles.
Mission
PowerCoders
Giving people their independence back, reducing social welfare costs and addressing the shortage of talent in the IT-industry.
Goal
The permanent placement of trained refugees in IT-companies and IT-departments.
PowerCoders are actively addressing the growing influx of refugees and migrants by giving them an opportunity to learn and develop a skill set which will then land them a decent job and positively impact the economy. The understated benefit of such a concept is the genuine happiness that the refugees will feel after previously facing such turmoil where they came from and to then be given an opportunity to create a real and sustainable future for themselves.
PowerCoders embody the approach needed to progress SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth – finding opportunity in crises. Unlike many critical opinions of the migrant crisis, PowerCoders stands out as a pioneer, reshaping the economic and employment landscape by giving unique opporunities to refugees, all of which pays its due in happiness, employability and inevitable economic return. Bundles of respect and admiration to PowerCoders for such an inspiring and purposeful business concept – one that helps those who truly need it most, in ways that nobody else currently can!
FutureSphere 