Shayan Eskandari

Update: Over 20 hours of our Solidity course is now online for free and has more than 30,000 views just on youtube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDwI1rIhknpNyUWdFt_XD6rpTEjTkUcYo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDwI1rIhknpNyUWdFt_XD6rpTEjTkUcYo</a> We are working on the next cohort for Winter 2023. ------------------- Dear Friends, in these past few months we have embarked on an unbelievable and extraordinary journey! Thanks to your support, we were able to educate over 500 Farsi speaking people about blockchain and smart contract coding (Solidity).&nbsp; Over a year ago, seven different women (now <a href="https://twitter.com/crypt0zan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Women in Blockchain Farsi</a>) living in different parts of the world heard about a <a href="https://coiniran.com/empowering-iranian-women-with-blockchain/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">scholarship</a> for the ConsenSys Academy smart contract development course for Farsi-speaking women. This opportunity, organized by the non-profit educational organization “CoinIran”’s founder <a href="https://twitter.com/baharlikespring" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bahar</a> and Women in Blockchain’s Founder <a href="https://twitter.com/thessymehrain?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Thessy Mehrain</a> (also ½ Iranian), was designed to teach all the fundamentals of smart contract development. All seven women who applied for this program <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/consensys-grants-help-iranian-women-130000273.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">successfully graduated the course</a>. This indeed was huge for us. Participating in an international course, coming from Iran, enabled us to overcome some of the everyday challenges imposed on Iranian society. Words cannot describe how grateful we are for this opportunity! This opened new doors in the world of decentralized technology and blockchain. We were able to take on freelance coding projects and even participate in hackathons! Now we want to help others do the same and here is why: There is a general lack of resources and educational content in the native language of these regions, posing major obstacles to Farsi speaking communities when it comes to accessing finance and decentralized technology. The Farsi-speaking community has a population of more than 120 million, located in West Asia in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran. Recently, the Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned all girls from schools and has even closed universities. Moreover, heavy sanctions imposed on Iranian citizens has limited them from accessing most social media platforms via <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/20/defi-isnt-better-than-tradfi-if-people-cant-use-it/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">geoblocking</a> and even <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/11/24/consensys-suddenly-bars-iranian-students-from-ethereum-coding-class/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blocking educational platforms</a>, in this way making it difficult to gain access to accurate and up to date education content.&nbsp; Last year, we created the <a href="https://smartcontract.coiniran.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">smart contract development forum</a> to share and build on the knowledge we acquired through this course and participating in hackathons. The forum grew fast and is now an active platform for Farsi speaking community consisting of over 550 members.&nbsp; <img src="https://c.gitcoin.co/docs/53f9de5cd349a544c908939fbd642d55/Screen_Shot_2021-12-06_at_8.17.47_PM.png"> We also taught a <a href="https://www.coiniran.academy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Smart Contract course</a> in the summer of 2021. The request for participation in this course exceeded the capacity of the class with 150 applicants. However, given the limited volunteer labour and resources, we only accepted 35 eligible students. The course was co-founded and instructed by <a href="https://twitter.com/crypt0zan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Women in Blockchain Farsi</a>, and mentored by <a href="https://twitter.com/sbetamc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shayan Eskandari</a>. The course ran for 3 months and featured more than 40 hours of online classes and <a href="https://smartcontract.coiniran.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">technical articles</a>.&nbsp; In this course, students were first introduced to the basic concepts of blockchain and Ethereum, and were taught all the technical skills needed to develop smart contracts and decentralized applications.&nbsp; Thanks to the endless labour of our volunteers, the course was well received by students. We had a diverse range of students, even <a href="https://twitter.com/shiryakhat/status/1464840048436723713" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">as young as 13 years old</a>! Our <a href="https://smartcontract.coiniran.com/t/topic/916#english-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">graduates</a> received their special <a href="https://poap.gallery/event/12594" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">POAP</a> developer certification. <a href="https://poap.gallery/event/12594" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://c.gitcoin.co/docs/1e84342615714475384c8ca587ac39d9/Screen_Shot_2021-12-06_at_8.05.06_PM.png"></a> A few testimonials from the graduates of the summer course:&nbsp;<ul><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6873020335860531200-u-3R" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6873020335860531200-u-3R/</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/chichinaaa/status/1464862158773235721?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/chichinaaa/status/1464862158773235721?s=20</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/erfansafari14/status/1464935859657056263" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/erfansafari14/status/1464935859657056263</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/DibaMomeni/status/1464871828699205638?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/DibaMomeni/status/1464871828699205638?s=20</a></li><li>​​<a href="https://twitter.com/amiralbertt/status/1464981792902074374?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/amiralbertt/status/1464981792902074374?s=20</a></li></ul> Even though the course ended in September 2021, our work here isn’t done, we need your support! In this year’s ConsenSys Academy Ethereum developer bootcamp, we were able to sponsor 65 Farsi speaking individuals (45 from Iran and 20 from Afghanistan). Unfortunately, the course <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/11/24/consensys-suddenly-bars-iranian-students-from-ethereum-coding-class/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">abruptly ended for most of our students due to unknown legal issues regarding their jurisdiction</a>.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/11/24/consensys-suddenly-bars-iranian-students-from-ethereum-coding-class/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/uzHnWQWX2yQzfPYhOvUZSMGd27yVwovV6fmTMSm4slaRTv7XzlMALs5BQW2Nvq84gdqZbH8cnbIjWLmqABp69GEuCy18XpCcku-wqicne_fACnxyfs_b8WK95mjxsLlrmxoPqtdX"></a> Even though this was a hard blow for both our students and mentors, we managed to pick up the pieces and move forward. We are determined to continue spreading smart contract development education and teaching valuable skills to foster autonomy and grant access to decentralized finance.&nbsp; Latest update: Our Gitcoin grant also was <a href="https://twitter.com/annbrody7/status/1468737168294256644" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">suspended</a> due to the "jurisdiction" of our students!! Please support us in our mission! Not only will your funds help ensure that our volunteers get fairly compensated for the hard labour they put into managing and maintaining this course, but it will also help ensure that the course content and materials stay accessible and free to everyone! Let’s build a more equitable future by ensuring that everyone - regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, and geographical location - can benefit from blockchain.&nbsp; ---------- Here's the Women in Blockchain Farsi team: <img src="https://c.gitcoin.co/docs/c16b1ceb437e03ff40b065787d24fafd/Women-In-Blockchain-Iran-scholars-2.png">

Free Solidity Development Course in Farsi

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