Ian Schlesinger

Paniamor Foundation

Paniamor Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1987 to prevent violence, promote policies, and create social development programs for children and youth in Costa Rica. It has three main focus: Violence Prevention, Political Incidence, and Social Development.  

One of their initiatives is the TechnoBus, conecta tu mundo, which is a mobile hotspot equipped with cutting-edge technology. The TechnoBus brings knowledge about the safe, responsible and productive use of ICTs, and helps strengthen Digital Citizenship and build inter-generational bridges across ICTs. On average, 200 adolescents and children benefits from the Technobus programs annually. Since 2005, Technobus has served more than 30,000 people from disadvantaged communities, protecting and educating children, adolescences, and their families.

Team4Tech & Paniamor Foundation Projects

In July 2016, Team4Tech partnered with VMware Foundation to send a team of local VMware Costa Rica employees to help improve Paniamor Foundation’s Technobus and created an 8-week curriculum to inspire adolescents to use technology in more creative ways. The impact of the project was:

• Paniamor has used the curriculum designed with 230 adolescents across Limon, Puntarenas, San Jose, and Cartago,
• They've trained 45 teachers on how to teach using the curriculum,
• They've broadened the curriculum to also include arts and science,
• They are planning to reach out to juvenile offenders this year with the curriculum.

Upcoming Project

Because of the previous project success, for 2017, Paniamor wants to expand their curriculum to cover robotics for youth to help improve creativity and critical problem solving skills.

Intel recently donated a Makernel maker space kit, which has a 3D printer, Arduino, robotics, and Scratch kits. However, there hasn’t been a curriculum developed to utilize these equipment.

Paniamor would like the Box volunteer team to:

1.      Develop a short (4 week) and a long (8 week) curriculum that uses the Makernel kit.

2.     Collaborate with and train facilitators on how to teach the curriculum.

Potential Impact

The curriculum will be taught in a new makerspace in Sagrada Familia Library, a community central space that will open in March 2017, and at the Technobus. Of which the curriculum will reach approximately 100 at-risk adolescents around Costa Rica for the first year.