Enel Supports Powercoders, the Coding Academy for Refugees and NEETs

Powercoders, the coding academy for refugees that has offered intensive courses and placement opportunities in IT companies since 2017, expands the project nationwide, becoming established as a digital policy actor in the Italian system. A successful pathway that has now become established also in Italy, involving more than 300 candidates. Among Powercoders Italy participants, 70 per cent found an internship after the course and 80 per cent productively entered the world of work.

Since the initiative was launched in the country only 3 years ago, the project has received significant institutional recognition: several companies awarded by UNHCR as part of the "Welcome. Working for refugee integration" for 2020-21 have hired refugees trained by Powercoders. In addition, last May, Powercoders received a special mention in the "1st National Award for Digital Competencies 2022," sponsored by the Department for Digital Transformation of the Prime Minister's Office.

For the third edition of the project, selections have been underway since June 1 and will remain open until the beginning of the course, scheduled for September. The new class of students will no longer be composed only of refugees but also of Neet, thus enhancing the experience and initiative in order to promote the inclusion and job placement of talented young people.

In addition, the supporting partnership network - which already includes Reale Foundation, Fondazione Italiana Accenture, in collaboration with UNHCR-the UN Refugee Agency in Italy - sees a new and essential entry, that of Enel, a company that has always been attentive to the creation of shared value; an opportunity that allows the initiative to aim more and more towards sustainable progress, thus increasing the level of impact.

Carlo Albini, Head of People and Organization Innovability at Enel:

"In order to read and interpret a constantly changing world, it is necessary to get equipped with the double lens made of training and innovation and to make it available to everyone. This is why we chose to support a project like Powercoders, making our contribution to extend participation not only to refugees but also to women and men who are today excluded from the world of work.
The collaboration undertaken represents a model of social innovation aimed at creating shared value through the inclusion in the world of work of the most vulnerable segments of the population, in the belief that it is increasingly important to support them in building the necessary digital skills to seize the opportunities present in the world of work and to ensure an increasingly inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development."

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