The program is called “Soy Digital,” and its mission is to teach digital literacy to one thousand young people across 15 community centers in Buenos Aires. The two month course will help youth learn to use social platforms as a way of sharing creative portfolios and developing digital products. The program is backed by Facebook for Latin America, since they see the courses as a way of bringing more people onto their platforms, such as Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram.
“Technology creates opportunities and we want more people in Argentina to be able to access that. Soy Digital was designed to empower local communities and help with their insertion into the labor market by developing digital capabilities, one of the most important competencies in the labor market right now,” said Marinelly Díaz Saporiti, director of programs for Facebook in Latin America.
The courses are taught in partnership with Faro Digital and Digital House, and consist of eight two-hour sessions over the course of two months. Students will learn digital marketing skills using their cellphones, since Argentina has one of the highest rates of smartphone penetration in Latin America.
In the long term, the directors of Soy Digital hope to bring the program to the rest of Latin America to help young people escape vulnerable situations and enter the workforce.
Read more in La Nación.
