A public commitment to building a learning community where everyone, of every gender and every background, has the power to teach, build and lead.
Version 1.0 · Adopted June 2026 · Reviewed annually
EKOHACKS OÜ · Registered in Estonia · Registry code 17182181 · Tallinn, with teams in Alexandroupoli, London and Lagos.
Download the signed plan (PDF)
Our commitment to equality
At EkoHacks we believe technology is a language of power, and that everyone deserves to speak it. We are an education institute that exists to put the tools of software into the hands of people who have too often been left outside the room. We teach the way Paulo Freire taught literacy, as an act of liberation, where learners are never empty vessels but co authors of their own knowledge.
We say it plainly and we say it loudly. Equality is not something we tolerate. It is the reason we exist and the source of our strength. A team and a learning community drawn from many genders, languages, countries and lived experiences builds better software, teaches more honestly and reaches further. When we open the door of technology wider, we do not only change individual lives. We strengthen education, we strengthen Europe, and we strengthen the work itself.
This document is our public promise. It tells the world who we are, what we already do and what we will keep doing to make equality real, in our company, in our classrooms and in the wider community we serve. We hold ourselves to it openly, because values that are only spoken in private are not really values at all.
Who and what this covers
This commitment covers EKOHACKS OÜ and every team, programme and learning community we run across Estonia, Greece, the United Kingdom and Nigeria. It speaks for everyone who works with us, teaches with us and learns with us, from our staff and facilitators to the learners who pass through our programmes. It is published on our website, signed by our management, and reviewed every year so that our promise grows as we grow.
The four foundations of that promise are a public and signed commitment, the people and resources to deliver it, the honest data we use to hold ourselves to account, and the concrete measures we take across our workplace and our teaching.
- Public and signed. Adopted by management, published openly.
- Resourced. A named owner with time and budget.
- Measured. Data disaggregated by sex and gender.
- Acted upon. Concrete measures, reviewed each year.
Pillar one · A public, signed commitment
We make this commitment in the open. It is adopted by the management of EKOHACKS OÜ, published in full on ekohacks.com, and shared freely with our learners, our partners and anyone who wants to hold us to it. The signature on the final page is our promise that these words live in everything we do.
We commit to equal treatment and equal opportunity regardless of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, socioeconomic background or migration status. We commit to a workplace and a learning environment free from discrimination, harassment and bias, and to acting swiftly and fairly whenever that standard is not met.
Our equality and inclusion principles
- Everyone can teach, build and lead. Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not. We design our programmes to close that gap, not widen it.
- We name the barriers out loud. Gender gaps in technology are real and documented. We will not pretend they do not exist inside our own walls.
- Inclusion is structural, not decorative. We change how we hire, teach, pay and promote, rather than relying on goodwill alone.
- Accountability is public. We publish what we measure and what we plan to do about it.
Pillar two · Dedicated resources and ownership
A plan without an owner is a wish. EkoHacks assigns clear responsibility, time and budget to make this plan real.
Who is responsible
A designated member of the EKOHACKS OÜ management board serves as the Equality and Inclusion Lead, accountable to the full management for delivery of this plan. The Lead owns the annual data review, the action measures and the public report. Where useful, the Lead may convene a small Equality and Inclusion working group drawn from staff and facilitators across our countries, so that decisions reflect the whole community rather than a single office.
| Resource | Our commitment |
|---|---|
| People | A named Equality and Inclusion Lead on the management board, with the authority to act. |
| Time | Protected working time each quarter for data review, listening sessions and measure tracking. |
| Budget | An annual budget line for inclusive recruitment, accessibility, training and bursaries for underrepresented learners. |
| Voice | A confidential channel for staff and learners to raise concerns, and a clear process for responding to them. |
Pillar three · Measuring what matters
We cannot improve what we refuse to count. EkoHacks collects data disaggregated by sex and gender, gathered with consent and handled in line with data protection law, so that our claims about inclusion rest on evidence rather than instinct.
What we track
- Our team. Gender balance across all staff and contractors, and specifically within technical and leadership roles.
- Pay and progression. Gender pay differences and patterns in promotion, so that gaps surface early and are addressed.
- Recruitment. The gender mix of applicants, shortlists and hires, to see where talented people fall away.
- Our learners. The gender and broader diversity of who applies to, enrols in and completes our programmes.
- Experience. Anonymous feedback on belonging, fairness and any experience of bias or harassment.
How we use it
Each year the Equality and Inclusion Lead compiles this data into a short report for management, identifies the most pressing gaps, and updates the action measures in pillar four. A summary is published alongside this plan so that our community can see both our progress and our honest gaps. Data is always reported in aggregate, never in a way that could identify an individual, and personal data is collected only with consent.
Pillar four · Concrete measures
These are the things we actually do, and keep doing, to make equality real across our workplace and our teaching. Each is owned by our Equality and Inclusion Lead and reviewed every year so that we can see our progress and own our gaps.
Inclusive recruitment and selection
- Write job and programme adverts in inclusive, bias aware language and publish salary ranges.
- Use structured interviews with consistent questions and, wherever possible, mixed gender panels.
- Reach beyond our usual networks, partnering with communities and groups that connect us to underrepresented talent.
Work life balance and wellbeing
- Support flexible and remote working across our distributed teams in Estonia, Greece, the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
- Offer fair parental and family leave and make sure taking it never penalises a career.
- Protect against overwork and respect time zones and personal circumstances in how we schedule.
Balance in leadership and decision making
- Set the clear ambition of gender balance in technical and leadership roles and track progress openly.
- Mentor and sponsor women and underrepresented colleagues into senior and technical positions.
- Run programme bursaries and outreach that bring more women and underrepresented learners into our learning community.
The gender dimension in our teaching and content
- Embed gender awareness and balanced, inclusive representation into our coding curriculum, examples, datasets and learning materials.
- Show learners role models of every gender in technology, and avoid stereotypes in the problems, characters and case studies we teach with.
- Review course content and facilitation through an equality lens, so that what we teach reflects the diverse world our learners build for.
Tackling bias, harassment and gender based violence
- Train all staff, facilitators and decision makers on unconscious gender bias, inclusive teaching and respectful conduct.
- Maintain a clear policy against harassment, sexual harassment and gender based violence, with a confidential reporting route and a fair, prompt response.
- Build accessibility into our platforms and learning materials so that disability is never a barrier to taking part.
Governance, review and accountability
This plan is a living commitment. The Equality and Inclusion Lead reports to management at least once a year on the data, the measures and any incidents, and proposes updates. Management formally reviews and re adopts the plan annually. Each new version is dated, signed and published, so that anyone can see how our commitment evolves over time.
We welcome challenge. Staff, learners and partners are invited to tell us where we fall short, through the confidential channel or directly to the Lead. Being held to account is not a threat to this plan. It is how the plan works.
Adoption and signature
On behalf of EKOHACKS OÜ, we adopt this Gender Equality and Inclusion Plan and commit to delivering it in full.
Anastasios Orfanidis, Founder and Managing Director, EKOHACKS OÜ (anastasis@ekohacks.com).
Athanasios Kylonis, Co Founder and Board Member, EKOHACKS OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia.
The signed version of this plan is available as a PDF at the top of this page.