Aleph Molinari studied Economics at the University of British Columbia in Canada. In 2006 he directed a documentary film on the cycle of trash and the lives of trash pickers in Mexico City. The time that Aleph spent in some of Mexico´s most impoverished communities inspired him to foster social change with the use of technology and education.
Aleph Molinari is currently the founder and president of the Fundación Proacceso, a non-profit organization that aims to bridge the digital divide and provides quality education in low-income communities in Mexico. The main project of the Fundación Proacceso is the Red de Innovación y Aprendizaje (RIA), or Learning and Innovation Network, a group of centers that connects underserved populations to quality education and technology. In just over four years, the RIA has expanded to 70 centers in 34 municipalities with more than 500,000 registered users and more than 140,000 course graduates. The RIA implements technological and educational innovations in areas with the greatest needs are and where educational performance is the lowest. RIA centers provide the population with access to training and opportunities for their social and economic development. Thus, users of the RIA will have a better chance of succeeding academically and participating in an increasingly digital labor market. An additional network of 25 Digital Libraries, located inside public schools, is also part of the RIA network.
The RIA has been presented at the OECD Annual Forums 2010, 2011 and 2012, the World Bank CSO meetings, the Global Philanthropy Forum, TED Talks, at the Social Enterprise and Latin-American conferences at Harvard University, the World Economic Forum and the World Technology Forum. The modular and environmental architecture of the RIA centers was included in the OECD’s 4th Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities (http://edfacilitiesinvestment-db.org/facilities/38).
