2023 training program for 1,000 students with expanded participation from young girls

Kuwait – 29 January 2023 – CODED Academy, the First Coding Academy in the Middle East – Based in Kuwait, is teaming up with Agility and other well-known local companies to launch Kuwait Codes, a free program that will train 1,000 high school students in programming languages and frameworks.

The Kuwait Codes initiative, now in its third year, aims to provide the basic digital skills that the country’s future workforce needs in order to build a successful knowledge- and innovation-led economy. To date, more than 1180 students have received free training through Kuwait Codes.

The 2023 program will focus on four distinct knowledge areas: Website programming, Game development, Python Programming, and Flutter. The intensive course runs over 3 main cohorts.

Ahmad Marafi, CEO OF CODED Academy, said: “We are pleased to partner with Agility in this strategic partnership to launch the Kuwait Codes initiative. It allows any high school student in Kuwait to learn coding and software development for free.  Agility, like CODED Academy, is also keen to ensure that girls are able to fully participate and complete the Kuwait Codes program. Our goal is 50% female participation in the 2023 program.  We want to extend our gratitude to Agility and all the supporters involved for contributing to this great initiative, which will benefit about 1,000 Kuwait youths.  Agility has previously supported CODED Academy’s Unicode program, which provided free training and skills development to more than 300 university age young people.  We’re proud to again have Agility as a Strategic Partner, and we’d like to thank the Agility team for contributing their time and effort to be part of our 2023 Kuwait Codes program.”

Henadi Al Saleh, Agility Chairperson, said: “Agility has long supported educational initiatives in the communities where we operate, especially initiatives that support the development of technical and digital capabilities, key skills we need in our workforce. CODED provides students in Kuwait with practical coding skills that set the foundation for the future. I look forward to seeing the progression and growth in the coming Kuwait Codes cohorts, especially progress achieved in girls’ participation.”

Hashim Behbehani – COO said: “I want to extend my warmest invitation to all eligible high school students in Kuwait to participate in this year’s Kuwait Codes program, especially to girls who are interested in apps and software development.  We will do our best to create space for any eligible student, and we will provide you all the tools, resources and support you need to be successful!

“I’d also like to thank Agility for its support of this year’s program.  I’d also like to thank Agility for engaging with us to ensure that girls can fully participate and complete this training.  Our goal is to make it super easy for participating students to understand the fundamentals of application development, and to help students to transition from classroom projects to “real” applications. I’m looking forward to seeing all the inspirational and very real apps this year’s participants will develop as part of this training!”

Registration for the Kuwait Codes program is now open. Female and male students are welcome to participate and can apply for the Kuwait Codes program by following CODED’s social media accounts at @Joincoded @kuwait_codes.

In 2022, Agility supported CODED’s UniCode program which provides digital coding basics to undergraduate students, and it has been organized with the support of the Computer Engineering Society (CPES) at Kuwait University, reaching 335 students, 60% of whom were female.

In Jordan, Agility has supported the Children of War Foundation (CoWF) with its mission to provide specialized pediatric surgical care to children. With Agility’s support, CoWF were able to reach 1,110+ children in less than three weeks. All of the children had been waitlisted for surgical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The children were triaged and assessed prior to the COWF team arrival with the help of local clinicians in Jordan and through remote telehealth technology. Children were prioritized by severity and complexity of medical conditions, which allowed for those in need of sub-specialized care that is either unavailable or unaffordable, to be provided while the specialized pediatric team was on the ground. Medical procedures included craniofacial and plastic reconstructive surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic, urology, ophthalmology, ENT, anesthesia, as well as general surgery, radiology, cardiology, pediatric medicine, dentistry, nursing, and surgical technology support.

To further supplement the medical outreach initiative, CoWF held a two-day high level symposium with guest lecturers from Tier 1 US academic institutions, to help build capacity on the ground. The symposium will enable local medical teams to independently provide some of these surgeries and treatments in the future.

We are proud to support the CoWF team, and we’re grateful to the many medical professionals that donated significant time and efforts to helping these children receive critically important, free and world-class medical care.

Agility announced that it is sponsoring Dr. William Novick and his team on a mission to Al Rachaya in Lebanon to provide pediatric cardiology education, experience and essential training to the medical team at The Rachaya Governmental Hospital, in partnership with The Pure Heart Foundation.

Dr. Novick is a pediatric cardiac surgeon who has been leading medical teams to treat children with heart disease for more than 28 years. He created a foundation to care for children with heart disease in low- and middle-income countries  around the world. Over the years Dr. Novick has recruited a group of clinical experts in the field of pediatric cardiac care who share his passion and vision to help eradicate the suffering caused by congenital heart disease in LMIC.

The aim of the Novic Cardiac Alliance in Lebanon is to upskill and train the local medical team at The Rachaya Governmental Hospital to be able to provide pediatric cardiac care independently at the conclusion of the program.

Dr. Novick and his team conducted four trips to Lebanon since 2020, with a plan to do four trips annually for a period of four years. During each trip, the team has intervened either surgically or in the interventional cardiac catheterization laboratory on 14-16 children. In addition, the program trains surgeons, anesthesiologists, perfusionist, catheterization lab assistants, cardiologist, operating room nurses, ICU nurses, ward nurses, echo lab technicians, and at least 8 medical students each trip. The total local staff trained to date is nearly 35.

The Lebanese students that join the program hail from medical schools across the country. They are exposed to all facets of pediatric cardiac care during their time in the program

Celebrating the month of Ramadan, Agility and its affiliate, United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC), teamed up to run a meal program in coordination with the Al Ber Foundation and its ‘Naemati’ Project. The project reached more than 500 families.

Volunteers from Al Ber, along with employees from Agility and UPAC, helped pack and distribute the “Machla boxes,” containing basic food supplies. Boxes were donated and contained a months’ worth of necessary food items.

In addition, Agility organizes daily Iftar meals for its employees whose jobs require them to be on duty during Iftar at its facilities in Sulabiya, Jahra, and Fahaheel.

Agility Logistics Park (ALP) Kuwait supported the Al Ber Foundation, a local NGO, and their project ‘Naemati’, donating previously used racking systems to store food and beverage products. All stored items will be donated to those in need, and stored at Al Ber’s storage facility.

Naemati works closely with supermarkets across Kuwait to collect food and beverage products. The Naemati team, along with youth volunteers, collect and store the items, using ALP’s donated racking system or in the freezers and fridges.

The storage facility has the capacity to store tons of various products on any given day, and distribute them to hundreds of families daily. Naemati have a distribution list that is comprised of over 14,000 less fortunate families in Kuwait that will benefit from these donated items.

Five Years Supporting UNHCR from Agility on Vimeo.

With Agility’s support over the past five years, UNHCR was able to help people in Malaysia, Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda with basic needs, from livelihoods, education to health interventions.

In a partnership that started in 2007 with INJAZ, a local nonprofit organization, employees from Agility Kuwait and United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC), a leading commercial real estate and facilities management company and one of Agility’s infrastructure companies, hosted several Job Shadows, Interview and CV Writing workshops, and Innovation Camps, mentoring nearly 1,500 students from schools, colleges, and universities around Kuwait.

Agility Turkey donated more than 100 electronic tablets and laptops to support students and teachers amid COVID-19 related school shutdowns. With Agility’s donation, the students were able to continue their education at home, uninterrupted.

Agility also supported the local school by fixing an elevator for disabled students attending the school, in order to prepare for reopening in the near future.