2017 | Dance & Big Data Change a Town

Category: NGO review.

Industry: Education.

Location: Colombia / Global.

Related to: Education / Low income communities / Data analysis / Developing countries / Social impact

Reviewer: Sebastian Caballero – MS. SD&M.

Company: Choco to Dance / Juan Pablo Gutierrez Caceres Foundation.

Website: Choco to Dance / Juan Pablo Gutierrez Caceres Foundation

About:

Choco to Dance is an initiative launched by Juan Pablo Gutierrez Careers Foundation (Choco-Colombia), which is an entity that supports low income students to grant scholarships to achieve postgraduate studies. The foundation began with micro finance products targeting Colombian low income students, and recently launched an initiative that merges the private and public sector, promoting connections with potential donors in developed countries through data analysis.

‘Choco to Dance’ is branded as an inclusive approach to education: Young Students from rural areas of Choco teach local dance lessons to people in developed countries through an interactive set of online classes, and the incomes are designated to cover their postgraduate studies.

The success of this private/public initiative relies in the power of data to connect an isolated rural communities with potential users in developed countries through social media analytics, and creating profits designated to the education of future leaders for the region. As the Minister of Education of Colombia affirm it, increasing access to education, and making it more inclusive to different sectors, is what can truly move a country forward, and empowering a young generation with the resources of data analytics, to create a solution that is financially successful, innovative, and that contribute to socials issues, is the space where technology become more relevant to our globalized era.