Fundació Bofill: Creating inclusive Code Clubs across Catalonia

Fundació Bofill is a non-profit organisation dedicated to fostering equity through education. They partner with Code Club to promote digital skills to young learners across Catalonia (an autonomous community in Spain) who might otherwise miss out.

Ellie Proffitt, Global Partnerships Manager at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, recently chatted to Ana Holschuh Heras, Code Club Community & Research Coordinator at Fundació Bofill, to learn more about how Fundació Bofill’s Code Club network in Catalonia has grown. Read on to learn what Ellie discovered.

The team at Fundació Bofill

Why Code Club matters

In Catalonia, only 5% of the extracurricular activities that children participate in are technology-related. What’s more, due to financial barriers, 34% of children from low-income families do not participate in any extracurricular activities, which sharply limits their access to learning opportunities.

Fundació Bofill is determined to change this. Code Club stood out to them as a brilliant way to drive such change with its free, accessible projects in a format that would suit young learners. It seemed the perfect fit — not only to bridge the digital skills gap, but also to build a community in which young people would feel empowered to shift from passive consumers of technology to active creators.

“We believe every child has the right to learn programming creatively, giving shape to their imagination.” — Claudia Iannicelli, Code Club Regional Coordinator

A glimpse into Catalonian Code Clubs

Ana and her team chose to set up their clubs in schools and communities in under-resourced neighbourhoods where access to afterschool clubs is often limited.

Fundacio Bofill now supports an incredible 110 Code Clubs across 21 municipalities. That’s over 1,518 children who are benefiting from the opportunity to learn to code, who may otherwise have been excluded. 

Creators attending a Code Club led by Fundació Bofill

A typical club session begins with a warm welcome and a recap of the day, followed by unplugged activities that spark critical discussions on technology and its many uses. Learners then dive into programming challenges, often working in pairs, to develop their problem-solving and coding skills. Reflections and previews of upcoming activities close the session.

“We help each other and learn as a team because I think without teamwork, you can’t work well.” — Code Club participant

Fundació Bofill’s clubs run in 16-week blocks, with four distinct phases: 

• Building a Code Club community
• Exploring programming concepts
• Engaging in collaborative projects
• Having a community showcase finale

The community showcase finale is an exciting highlight for everyone. Club members show their coding projects to their families and their wider school community, with attendees also getting to learn about Scratch and programming — often for the first time. It’s a wonderful example of how Code Clubs bring people together, and can inspire everyone to engage with technology in some way.

Representation for the next generation 

At the heart of Fundació Bofill’s Code Clubs is a dedicated team of 21 club mentors, who the organisation calls ‘dinamitzadores’. Leaders like these play a pivotal role in creating safe, engaging, and inclusive learning environments where all children feel empowered to explore and innovate. 

Nearly 90% of the dinamitzadores are young women aged 20 to 30. Representation matters — 47.5% of club attendees are girls — and having female leaders in technology is a powerful way to inspire girls to see themselves in tech roles. 

“The key role of a leader is to guide rather than teach, allowing children the freedom to develop their own projects and learn from the process and mistakes.” — Marta Salvador, Code Club leader

“When you make a mistake, it’s not a failure — it’s an opportunity to improve.” — Claudia Iannicelli, Code Club Regional Coordinator 

What’s next?

Fundació Bofill achieved so much in 2024. What’s in store for 2025? 

They have three clear aims: 

• Increase the number of active clubs and participants
• Ensure long-term sustainability by embedding Code Club into local educational policies
• Continue to empower children, especially girls, to see themselves as future leaders in technology

A big congratulations to Ana and all those at Fundació Bofill for their work so far. We can’t wait to see Code Club grow even further across Catalonia!

Find out more about our Global Clubs Partnership network and how you can get involved.