The Orange Foundation inaugurates Orange Digital Center Romania, an extensive digital education hub, which offers free training programs #PentruMâine

Orange Digital Center Romania offers free digital education programs for approximately 2,000 beneficiaries, including teenagers passionate about technology, young people looking for a job and adults who want a professional conversion;

For the establishment of the center, the Orange Group granted funding of over €800,000, digital inclusion programs being a central part of the Lead the Future strategy. The financing allowed the space to be equipped with modern equipment and to attract specialized trainers, to ensure the quality of the learning process.

The Orange Foundation inaugurates the Orange Digital Center Romania, an extensive digital education hub for teenagers passionate about technology, young people at the beginning of their professional career or adults who want a professional conversion with the help of digital skills.

With funding of over €800,000 from the Orange Group, the center is part of a network of digital centers through which Orange is involved in reducing the digital divide in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Orange Digital Center Romania adds to the portfolio of existing centers that have been opened in other countries within the Orange Group, including Belgium, Poland, Spain, Moldova and France, as well as in Africa and the Middle East.

With a total of 21 centres, this is a step forward towards the Group’s goal of reaching 25 centers across its footprint by 2025.

As part of its Lead the Future strategy, Orange aims to reduce the digital divide through 3-step initiatives: 1. Developing your own network, increasing coverage and providing Internet access for as many people as possible; 2. Facilitating access to phones and devices at advantageous prices, accessible to all social categories; 3. Development of digital inclusion programs, such as the Orange Digital Centers network.

“Connectivity is an integral part of our daily lives and digital inclusion is at the heart of the <<Lead the Future>> strategy. As a responsible operator, our commitment is to bridge the digital divide and provide the means by which they need to act and achieve more for everyone who has the desire or motivation. For this, we are building a solid network, our priority in Europe, but just as importantly we are providing easy access and digital training for as many people as possible, regardless of age, social status or level of education. Today we are proud to open the first Orange Digital Center here in Romania, a hub that aims to make digital technology an opportunity for everyone, for first and second chances”, said Elizabeth Tchoungui, Executive Vice President CSR Orange Group.

“In the 26 years of presence on the Romanian market, Orange has constantly invested in the development of networks, in order to increase coverage and provide Internet access to as many people as possible. The Orange network currently connects 1 in 2 Romanians, while hundreds of localities are covered with fiber every year. Internet access is only one step in bridging the digital divide. Our center is the place where people who want a change for the better #ForTomorrow can learn for free how to use digital resources and access to the Internet”, said Liudmila Climoc, CEO of Orange Romania.

Orange Digital Center Romania is conceived by the Orange Foundation as a “Workshop of Chances” | „Atelier de șanse” , an educational space equipped with modern technological equipment to facilitate the lifelong learning process. However, most of the financial support offered by the Orange Group is aimed at training those who want to acquire new skills for free, benefiting from the guidance of experienced trainers. Under the umbrella of the hub are: the Coding School – which brings together programs for the development of digital skills, but also programs with tradition, such as Solidarity FabLab and the SuperCoders digital education competition.

The Orange Digital Center curriculum currently includes 28 free, short and long courses: Google workspace, Graphic & video design, Frontend development programming, Data analytics & Business intelligence, Robotic process automation, eCommerce basics, but also Wood processing, Metal Fabrications, Laser Working, Botanical Design or Vocational Discovery.

In the same time, in order to continue the efforts of social inclusion of people with sensory impairments, two courses dedicated to people with visual impairments, developed with the help of partners AMAIS and the Association for Urban Development, will be supported, with special technology, in the Orange Digital Center. With a capacity of approximately 2,000 beneficiaries annually, the training programs are open to the general public, but priority will be given to people in difficult situations. For example, teenagers with limited financial means who are preparing for a digital career, young people looking for a job or adults who want a professional conversion.

See here what the beneficiaries who participated in the training programs in the pilot phase say. The activity of the Orange Digital Center takes place in a place with a special story, a space that in turn received a second chance – Nod Makerspace. This is the first large-scale creative space in Romania, an example of good practices for the transformation of an industrial hall in the cotton industry.