Fly For The Future

Many “Technology for Good” projects are top-down and technocentric and exclude local youth from meaningful leadership opportunities. What’s more, there is a gender imbalance when it comes to youths selecting STEM subjects in schools and therefore careers.

The Fly For the Future project, one of our youth programs, funded by Fondation Botnar equips Flying Labs in Ghana, India, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to develop strong youth programs and to introduce youth to terrestrial and aerial robotics solutions. Youths will be encouraged to resolve real life problems through logical thinking and STEM. In parallel, Flying Labs are also developing partnerships with social good enterprises to offer local dedicated mentorship and internship opportunities helping youth to set a foot in the professional world and take on leadership roles in tackling humanitarian, health, development, and environmental challenges with the help of emerging technologies

Through this program, we will focus on the following streams of work:

Youth Programs: Train, equip and support local Instructors to carry out youth training programs with children between the ages of 10 – 15 years old in secondary cities in their respective countries. This youth training program includes fun activities with the use of Tello drones and curriculums adapted to the local context.

Youth-led Projects: Provide opportunities for youth to lead their own Social Good Projects with Flying Labs Instructors as mentors. Youth will get a chance to raise awareness about the challenges faced in their communities, use the technology available to address these issues while developing their skills to pursue careers in STEM.

Youth Network: Create a highly active and participatory network to support the youth involved in our program. Through this network, youth will receive opportunities from Flying Labs and partner organizations, that can help them in their educational and professional path in the STEM field.

Social Good Employers: Bring support and provide exciting opportunities for youth through connecting them to social good employers. Flying Labs will enable youth to gain access to opportunities with the final objective of radical inclusion of local youth to become the next leaders of Technology for Social Good projects.

Stakheholder Engagement: Engage parents, carers, teachers, educators, NGOs, influencers and government entities for a more long-term, effective, and sustainable impact. Flying Labs will help create an ecosystem to support youth and encourage them to not only pursue STEM careers but become leaders in Tech 4 Good field.

Online Course for Youth: Provide opportunities for a wider range of youth through online learning on a dedicated training platform. This course will be self-paced and will not require prior knowledge or equipment and aim to introduce youth to the world of drones and STEM.