Rodrigo Baggio

Rodrigo Baggio bridges the digital divide by empowering poor and underserved communities to use information and communication technology. His non-profit organization called Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI), works with communities such as favelas (Brazilian Portuguese for slums), remote villages, detention centers, and medical clinics to set up local CDI Community Centers that provide its constituents (very often young people) with access to technology and the technical skills needed.

CDI is based on a pedagogy of empowerment that requires students by the end of a four month course, to have initiated and completed a “social advocacy project” using digital technology. Students collectively identify a common challenge facing their community and prepare an action plan using the technical skills they learned to overcome issues ranging from sexual abuse, pollution, crime, and many more. Each Community Center is in partnership with an existing leading grassroots organization, providing the centers with an infrastructure. CDI supplies free computers and software, implements educational methods, and trains and monitors the schools. In the past fourteen years, CDI has trained more than 1.25 million people in 803 self-managed and self-sustaining Community Centers in 13 countries, including USA, United Kingdom, Jordan and throughout Latin America. According to an external impact evaluation, 87% of CDI students said their lives changed positively after the program, which means many went on to find better jobs, open small businesses, continue their education and become agents of change within their communities.

As part of the global scaling strategy, CDI is assessing several countries in the Americas, the Middle East and Africa and also expansion to India. Before any new operations will start, Rodrigo will focus on identifying and recruiting two to three talented social entrepreneurs in order to create a local management team that will be responsible for the adaptation of the CDI methodology, local fundraising and partnerships. Although CDI is seeking funding from various sources to expand in other countries, ultimately its Community Centers are locally owned and self-sustainable. By digitally including underserved communities, Rodrigo generates jobs and entrepreneurs at the base of the pyramid and turns disenfranchised people into active and informed changemakers.

Rodrigo Baggio is also a Fellow of Ashoka, the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs - creating a world of change by building an Everyone A Changemaker society.