Twelve Saudi coaches have received international accreditation for the Diriyah Gate Development Authority’s “Program Your Passion” STEM training initiative from global development institute DigiPen. The coaches’ certification comes as DGDA prepares to roll out a digital training program to help students develop their digital skills in animation design, coding and production of localized video games. DigiPen’s experts held learning and development workshops in communications and training approaches, student project management, assessment best practices and teaching competency-based programs. Coaches who received a DigiPen “Level 1 Trainer Certification” following the training program held in Diriyah will be assigned to teach the DigiPen curriculum to over 250 students from the Diriyah community. “Program Your Passion” encourages local middle and secondary school students to learn new digital skills and become digitally proficient. The first group of students kicked off the training sessions in schools in mid-July, with 30 hours a week of training for secondary students and 25 hours a week for middle school students. A second group will take place in September. Ahlam Althunayan, DGDA community engagement director, said that “the program is a great initiative put forward by DGDA and provides new opportunities for young students in Diriyah to excel in the digital space.” She added: “Human capital development is at the heart of our efforts to incubate young Saudi talent in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program. The training for our coaches also provides future job opportunities across Saudi Arabia’s thriving digital economy with major global digital brands.” DigiPen experts who conducted the training program for the Saudi coaches have experience working with future coaches from Nintendo, BBC, Microsoft, Boeing, Renault F1 team and the Star Wars franchise.