Jamaica has become the 89th country to launch ‘iamtheCODE’, a global charity endorsed by the United Nations (UN).

Founded by Senegalese-born French social entrepreneur, Lady Mariéme Jamme, iamtheCODE is committed to advancing education in science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics and design (STEAMD).

In Jamaica, the programme will be spearheaded by iamtheCODE Caribbean (IATCC) co-founders, Nadeen Matthews Blair and Mariame McIntosh Robinson, both distinguished alumni of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader (YGL) programme.

Commencing January 2026, IATCC, with support from the Digicel Foundation, will launch a 12-week blended digital coding and leadership development programme.

This free training programme aims to equip underserved youth, ages 18 to 30, with marketable digital skills and facilitate pathways to employment.

In her address during the recent IATCC press launch held at the S Hotel Kingston, Minister of Education Dr
Dana Morris Dixon commended the initiative, noting its close alignment with the ministry’s strategic objectives.

“We’re building out clubs where our children can learn to code, because we understand that every child in Jamaica needs to be able to code,” she said.

Senator Morris Dixon underscored the critical role of digital literacy in equipping students for the demands of the future.

“We know that education is the key to unlocking opportunity. But in today’s world, it’s the new digital skills that readily open the doors to jobs, innovation and global competitiveness. Skills like coding open the doors of opportunity,” she said.

For her part, Matthews Blair shared that upon learning of the impactful work being led globally by Lady Mariéme Jamme, as a YGL alum, she and Robinson McIntosh were inspired to bring the initiative to Jamaica.

“Given where we are today, in terms of the importance of digital and AI (artificial intelligence) skills and how it’s transforming our world, we thought it imperative to join in that movement to make sure that our young people were adequately prepared,” she said.

Matthews Blair noted that the platform offers over 65,000 courses, with the only prerequisites being a device and a genuine desire to learn.

“Our vision is to get to a place where we are not only upskilling our young people, but creating a nation of persons who are skilled, high-earning, innovative and producing with strong character, and they’re changing our businesses, their lives, our communities, our nation and our world,” she said.

Lady Mariéme Jamme, who was trafficked from Senegal to France as a child, founded iamtheCODE to mobilise governments, the private sector, philanthropic foundations, investors, and civil society in support of future technologies that advance sustainable development for women and girls in marginalised communities.

“It’s very urgent that we train our people. We need to make sure that we are part of the global conversation in re-skilling people. Not everybody will end up in Cambridge [University], in Harvard [University], in Oxford [University]. So we need to find alternative education so young women and girls will not end up like me, in a village in Senegal, being trafficked and being sexually abused,” she said during the launch.

To date, iamtheCODE has reached over 550,000 young women and girls, and aims to train one million female coders globally by 2030.