Attending a Code Week can change your life; just ask Deepa Gujar. Deepa, who came from a large family with a father who had passed away, began working when she was just a young child. The eldest of eight children, she needed to take on more responsibility to help provide for her family but she lacked the education and resources needed to obtain a high-paying job.
“I didn’t receive proper education, so it was really difficult to get a decent job. I started working as a receptionist in a hospital and I was earning about 3,000 rupees a month. That was hardly enough to provide for all of us,” she recalls in a recent interview with The New Indian Express.
That’s when she heard about a digital skills program that was being offered in her village: Code Unnati.
“I didn’t know anything about computers before I took up this training. But after I joined, I was trained in MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and its applications in daily life,” says Deepa. “Almost everything around us functions with the help of computers. So how can one survive in this day and age without knowing how to use it?”
After completing the Code Unnati course with SAP, Deepa was soon promoted to a new job as a data entry specialist at a local hospital where her salary doubled. And she doesn’t plan to stop there; Deepa hopes to continue training in computer programs so she can climb higher in her career and provide better opportunities for her siblings.
“I am so much more hopeful and happy now,” she says. “I’m so grateful to Code Unnati for changing my life.”
If you’ve never been exposed to a Code Week program, you may not know the impact it has or how powerful it can be.
Code Unnati, like all of SAP programs around Code Week events, has the power to create a ripple effect with every life that it touches. In this case, learning a new skill set not only changed Deepa’s life, it changed her family’s life and it changed efficiency in the hospital where she works, ultimately impacting patient care and helping the community as a whole — all because she participated in a digital skills program from SAP
Code Week events happen in every corner of the world and while needs differ from region to region, the areas where Code Weeks are taking place share the same fundamental need for people to have the opportunity to gain digital skills. SAP is proud to power that opportunity for all people through digital inclusion.
India Code Week is part of SAP’s larger Code Unnati program. This initiative is a collaborative approach to bridge the digital gap and help to build a skilled, employable work force, which in turn can contribute to economic growth.
“With a population over 1 billion, where 90 percent of the population is digitally illiterate, India needs various means and approaches for digital inclusion and imparting digital literacy,” says Gunjan Patel, head of Corporate Social Responsibility for APJ and India at SAP. “India is one of the youngest countries in the world, with around 800 million youth in the 16 to 36 year age group.”
Code Week programs allow SAP to reach large groups of students in communities around the world and teach them IT skills in a straightforward and accelerated manner. And in India, where it is estimated that only 10 percent of the population is digitally literate, this digital empowerment is the way forward for inclusive growth in the country.
Latin Code Week is a program that combines the prototyping tool SAP Build with Junior Achievement’s content supporting creativity, analytical abilities, time management, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
“First, we tailor the program to address the region’s needs,” says Jose Caceres, head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean at SAP. “Second, Latin Code Week is run by SAP employees and mentors.
