Good practice Imported

GirlsDoCode

Slovenia · Ljubljana · Local · See the Slovenia profile · See the Ljubljana profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 62% 56/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

With the project GirlsDoCode, they aimed to increase girls' interest in technology and other STEM professions, raise the level of digital literacy among young girls, reduce gender gaps in jobs in the ICT sector and disprove prejudices about women in the STEM field. They provided

99 of 112 enrolled

Girls completing the programme (Oct 2019–Feb 2020)

78 %

Participants who continued coding in their free time (2019/20 cohort)

93 %

Participants pursuing further interest in coding/STEM (2019/20 cohort)

Details

Maturity: Scaling
Promoter: Simbioza Genesis (social enterprise) — website
Type: Service
Status: Ended
Target groups: Marginalised young people and children
People reached: 112
People targeted: 150
Period: 2019-10-01 – 2020-02-29
Region (NUTS): SI04
Keywords: STEM, Youth, Equality, Women

Context

Simbioza (a Slovenian social enterprise) and Digital School set out to close the gender gap in STEM by tackling the barriers that keep girls out of computing: outdated school curricula, few trained teachers/mentors, poorly equipped classrooms, and a culture that discourages girls from entering technical fields.

Objectives

Increase girls' interest in technology and STEM professions; raise digital literacy among young girls; reduce the gender gap in ICT jobs; and counter stereotypes about women in STEM.

Activities

Microsoft Innovation Educator (MIE)-certified educators ran girls-only coding courses in modern computer classrooms for 112 girls aged 8–11, from October 2019 to March 2020. Girls built at least 20 of their own projects and games, learned safe internet use, and practised teamwork; top performers were offered advanced coding lectures at Digital School, and a peer community/ambassador network was set up to support subsequent cohorts.

Results

99 of the 112 girls completed the programme, all reporting increased digital skills. 78% said they continued coding in their free time, and 93% said they wanted to further pursue coding/STEM interests. A follow-on cohort ran in 2020/21.

Conclusions

Evaluation was based on attendance and completion data plus a post-course survey of participants (self-reported interest/continuation), not an independent study with a comparison group.

Implementation

Indicative cost: Low (< €50k) — Low-to-moderate cost model: 2 coordinating staff plus contracted certified educators and existing computer classrooms; no capital infrastructure build reported.
Time to results: Short (< 1 year) — Single course cycle ran roughly 5 months (Oct 2019–Mar 2020); a second cohort followed in 2020/21.
Staffing & skills: Microsoft Innovation Educator (MIE)-certified educators delivering girls-specific coding courses, 2 operational staff coordinating the programme (Simbioza/Digital School)

Conditions for success

Access to modern, well-equipped computer classrooms
Certified educators trained specifically to teach young girls
Partner network for continuity (Celtra, Institute 404, Nomago, Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth) and follow-on cohorts

Common failure modes

Depends on availability of MIE-certified educators
Narrow age band (8–11) limits direct transferability to other age groups without adaptation
Self-reported continuation/interest metrics are not independently verified