A Growth Engine for Europe

As part of their shared belief in the power of education to transform lives, Google has partnered with Irish charity Suas Educational Development on a number of initiatives to support girls and boys in some of the world’s poorest communities, both in Ireland and internationally. The charity works to increase access to quality education in Ireland, India, Kenya and Zambia, combining the collective energy of volunteering and mentoring. Through projects such as Google CS First, Suas has been able to extend its focus from literacy and numeracy to building students’ computer science skills in a number of disadvantaged schools in Dublin. “With CS First, we are helping students become 21st century citizens. so they can thrive in a digital world and open their eyes to a future career they may never have considered,” says Allison Aldred, CEO. Through the Digital Give programme, Suas was supported by volunteers from the Dublin Google office to boost its volunteer recruitment from colleges across Ireland. Using funding from Google Ad Grants, the online recruitment drive attracted 30 education volunteers in just one month. Alongside these initiatives, a dedicated team of Google Experts also provides face-to-face mentoring support to the Suas team in digital training. “We bring our digital problems to the table and our Google team helps us come up with the solutions,” says Eimear Larkin, Communications Executive with Suas. “Google support has been so valuable to our charity. It’s felt like having an extra member of the team.” With this ongoing support, Suas is moving closer to realising its vision of a world where quality education is accessible to all.