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Good practice Imported

UNESCO-CODEMAO Youth Coding & AI Initiative Trains Teachers in the Republic of the Congo

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Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 40% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

UNESCO and CODEMAO's Youth Coding Initiative trained around 99 teachers (45% women) across Congo, Kenya, Namibia and Thailand in 2021–23, generating 82 classroom coding projects. A 2026 phase sends Congolese teachers and students to China for a week-long AI and coding study tour.

~99-100
Teachers trained in Phase I (2021-2023)
82
Coding projects submitted for certification
45-51 %
Projects credited to women teachers
6
Countries covered after Phase II expansion
10
Localised lesson plans developed
UNESCO-CODEMAO Youth Coding & AI Initiative Trains Teachers in the Republic of the Congo

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
UNESCO (Contextual Analysis and Foresight Unit for Priority Africa / IITE) & CODEMAO
Period
2021–2026 (Phase I: 2021–2023; Phase II ongoing, next study tour July 2026)
Keywords
K-12 education, teacher training, coding & AI literacy

Context

Launched in April 2021, the UNESCO-CODEMAO Youth Coding Initiative pairs UNESCO's Contextual Analysis and Foresight Unit for Priority Africa with CODEMAO, China's largest children's coding platform, to build coding and AI literacy among teachers and students in the Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Namibia and Thailand.

Activities

In Phase I (2021-2023), roughly 99-100 teachers were trained via webinars and CODEMAO's graphical 'Kitten Editor' tool plus ten localised lesson plans; a second phase launched with a July 2024 study visit to China expanded the initiative to six countries and sharpened its focus on girls, rural and disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities, with a further exchange scheduled for July 2026.

Results

Trained teachers submitted 82 coding projects to their national UNESCO offices for evaluation and certification, with 45-51% of projects credited to women teachers.

Conclusions

The programme's own reporting is candid that its measures are process indicators - training completions, project submissions, certification pass rates - rather than independent measures of student learning gains, and total reach so far remains in the low hundreds relative to Congo's national teaching workforce.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Delivered by UNESCO's Contextual Analysis and Foresight Unit for Priority Africa together with CODEMAO, China's largest children's coding platform.

Conditions for success

  • A structured curriculum using CODEMAO's 'Kitten Editor' tool plus ten localised lesson plans.
  • Formal certification and evaluation of teacher-submitted coding projects.
  • Study-visit exchanges to China's National Center for Educational Technology for hands-on training.

Common failure modes

  • The programme's own reporting distinguishes process measures from independent evidence of student learning gains, which remains unpublished.
  • Total teachers reached to date is small relative to Congo's national teaching workforce.

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