Breaking Barriers, Building Futures in Ecuador: Meet the New Dimensions Graduates

Click here to read this article in Spanish on LIDE's website 🇪🇨 

Creating Equity in Ecuador with BI Education

The New Dimensions program, a comprehensive business intelligence training bootcamp designed to empower adult women from disadvantaged backgrounds in Ecuador, has successfully concluded. The program’s students completed a total of six modules in programming and data analysis, as well as various mini-modules in key soft skills and employability for professionals in the data industry. To enhance their learning experience, they completed various DataCamp courses in R, Python, SQL, PowerBI, and Spreadsheets. They also utilized DataCamp’s Workspace, an online IDE that allows users to write code and analyze data without needing local computational resources. This was particularly useful for students who lacked access to equipment capable of processing large datasets.

LIDE has worked hand-in-hand with DataCamp to provide free data education in Ecuador through the DataCamp Donates program. This program provides free DataCamp licenses to qualified NGOs to distribute among their communities. In addition to the New Dimensions program, DataCamp actively supports LIDE’s research staff and fellows in training for quantitative research, which they use to conduct social policy research in Ecuador and Latin America.

It's worth highlighting the remarkable success of the New Dimensions students, from securing jobs in national and international institutions to continuing their academic journeys abroad. Congratulations to the graduates!

Jhanelly Chalá delivers the valedictorian speech at the graduation event at the American Chamber of Commerce in Guayaquil.

LIDE hosted two graduation ceremonies, one in Guayaquil and another in Quito. Representatives from the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador attended these events, along with Nathaniel Taylor-Leach, DataCamp’s Social Impact Manager and leader of DataCamp Donates, who joined virtually to congratulate the graduates. Nathaniel highlighted the achievements of the students, especially Rocío González, Stephany Pachay, and Anshela Castillo, who excelled on the DataCamp platform. Collectively, the New Dimensions students earned 7.2 million XPs and completed 2,217 DataCamp courses. Excellent work!

Fifty-five women from disadvantaged backgrounds received diplomas for their participation in the program. The program valedictorians were Ana Taipe, who holds a mathematics B.A. from Universidad Politécnica Nacional, and Jhanelly Chalá, who holds an economics B.A. from UNEMI.

Anshella Castillo, who obtained the most XPs during the program.

Job Placements from New Dimensions

Several New Dimensions students have successfully entered the job market, and we want to highlight some of their success stories. Ana Taipe secured a position at Produbanco, one of Ecuador's three largest banks, in the financial sector. Érika Martínez obtained a Trainee Business Intelligence position at Banco Pichincha, Ecuador's largest bank. Katherine del Valle secured a position as a software consultant at Global Hitss.

The students' success extends beyond the private sector into academia. Jenniffer Chuzán received funding for a master's program at the National Taipei University of Technology, which she is currently attending. Verónica Tapia received a scholarship for her master's in business analytics at Fordham University in the USA. Several students are also conducting significant research projects at renowned universities: Johanna Vinueza is working as a research assistant at Jaume I University in Spain, while Jhanelly Chalá and Lissette Pita have secured research assistant positions at the Universidad Estatal de Milagro and ESPOL, respectively.

Our student, Lidia Pupiales, receives her diplomas alongside Chigozie Okocha, Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador, and LIDE co-directors, Alonso Quijano and Marco Faytong.

This is just a sample of the success achieved by the New Dimensions students. Tamia Gualán, an indigenous woman from the Kichwa Saraguro people and a WARMI STEM participant, mentioned,