Raspberry Pi Foundation announces CoderDojo merger

The Raspberry Pi Foundation, the not-for-profit arm of the company behind the popular eponymous single-board computer family, has announced that it is to join forces with the CoderDojo Foundation to extend its educational reach.

Developed with primary and secondary education firmly in mind but having proven more than popular with hackers and tinkerers, the Raspberry Pi has been a sterling success. Having hardware is one thing, though, and being able to successfully teach computing concepts with it is something entirely separate. The Raspberry Pi ecosystem has always benefited from a strong community, and in 2015 the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation announced that it was to merge with the international Code Club project to further push extra-curricular computing education.

Now, it's doing the same with another organisation: CoderDojo. Founded in 2011 by James Whelton and Bill Liao, who set up the first CoderDojo club at the National Computer Centre in Cork, Ireland, CoderDojo clubs can now be found in 69 countries worldwide and support the education of over 35,000 young people.

'Raspberry Pi and CoderDojo have each accomplished amazing things over the last six years. Now, we see an opportunity to do even more by joining forces,' explains Philip Colligan, chief executive of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, in the announcement. 'Bringing together Raspberry Pi, Code Club, and CoderDojo will create the largest global effort to get young people involved in computing and digital making. We have set ourselves an ambitious goal: to quadruple the number of CoderDojos worldwide, to 5,000, by the end of 2020.'

Coder Dojo, Philip explains, will remain a fully independent charity based in Ireland, and will remain platform-neutral without being forced into concentrating solely on the Raspberry Pi platform. The Raspberry Pi Foundation will simply become a corporate member, with Colligan joining the CoderDojo Foundation as a board member - all subject to approval by Irish regulators.

'How will this work in practice? The two organisations will work together to advance our shared goals, using our respective assets and capabilities to get many more adults and young people involved in the CoderDojo movement,' claimed Colligan. 'The Raspberry Pi Foundation will also provide practical, financial, and back-office support to the CoderDojo Foundation.'

More information on CoderDojo is available on the official website.