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Good practice Imported

Laboratoria — AI and Data-Analysis Upskilling Bootcamp for Women in Mexico

Mexico · Mexico City · See the Mexico profile · See the Mexico City profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 20% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2018, Laboratoria's income-share-funded six-month bootcamp in Mexico City and Guadalajara has trained low-income women in web development, data analysis and AI fundamentals; independent reporting confirms strong completion and placement rates across its 11-country network.

1,600+
Graduates (Americas Quarterly, multi-country)
80%+
Completion rate
~80%
Job placement within six months
7% (2014) to 17% (4 years later)
Women in Peru's web-programmer workforce
10,000+
Women served since 2014 (self-reported)
73%
Job-oriented placement rate (self-reported)
~3x
Average salary increase for graduates (self-reported)
1,300+
Partner employer network
Laboratoria — AI and Data-Analysis Upskilling Bootcamp for Women in Mexico

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Laboratoria
Period
2018–ongoing
Keywords
workforce development, women in tech, digital & AI skills

Context

Laboratoria, founded in Lima, Peru in 2014, runs free-to-enter, income-share-funded six-month bootcamps that train women - many first-generation professionals from low-income households - in web development, UX design and data analysis. It opened a Mexico City operation and added a second training hub in Guadalajara in 2018, and now operates across 11 Latin American countries.

Objectives

Upskill women for tech careers, explicitly framing the curriculum around the 'age of AI' given that women's jobs face roughly three times the automation risk of men's; added 'fundamentals of AI and data analysis' modules and AI-assisted job-search coaching to the employability track.

Activities

Project-based technical learning is combined with mentoring, interview preparation and salary-negotiation support from a network of 1,300+ partner employers.

Results

Americas Quarterly documented 1,600+ graduates with an 80%+ completion rate and roughly 80% job placement within six months across Peru, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Colombia, and traced a shift in the share of women in Peru's web-programmer workforce from 7% (2014) to 17% four years later, citing an independent Mozilla-community workforce poll. Laboratoria's own reporting states it has served over 10,000 women since 2014 across 11 countries, with a 73% job-oriented placement rate and roughly a 3x average salary increase for graduates.

Conclusions

No independent impact evaluation with a matched comparison group was located, and placement-rate and salary-multiplier figures vary somewhat between Laboratoria's own materials and outside journalism - more likely inconsistent reporting periods and definitions than fabricated numbers, but it means the causal effect on income is not rigorously established.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Free-to-enter, income-share-funded model; no total programme cost disclosed
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Founded 2014 in Lima; Mexico operation since 2018; ongoing across 11 countries
Staffing & skills
Laboratoria - programme operator, Network of 1,300+ partner employers - mentoring and hiring

Conditions for success

  • Income-share funding model removing the upfront tuition barrier
  • Partner-employer network for job placement, mentoring and interview prep
  • Curriculum continuously updated to add AI/data-analysis fundamentals

Common failure modes

  • No independent impact evaluation with a matched comparison group exists
  • Placement-rate and salary-multiplier figures vary between Laboratoria's own materials and outside journalism
  • Causal effect on income is not rigorously established

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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