An award-winning Drupal platform recognized at the Acquia Engage Awards
1MIO is the largest youth opportunity initiative ever launched in Brazil. Led by UNICEF and the ILO (International Labor Organization), it brings together the private sector and civil society to create 1 million jobs and training opportunities for vulnerable youth aged 14 to 24.
To turn this vision into a scalable digital operation, Dexa developed an enterprise Drupal platform hosted on Acquia in under 3 months. The solution was built to be fast, accessible, and mobile-first, designed to handle high traffic volumes from day one. The project was the winner of the 2021 Acquia Engage Awards in the Dreamers: Regional Excellence – LATAM category.
CONTEXT
A nationwide project on a lightweight, scalable, and accessible platform
CHALLENGE
UNICEF needed to launch 1MIO within a tight timeframe, ensuring an accessible experience for youth who often access the internet via low-end mobile devices and unstable connections. The platform had to be lightweight and intuitive without losing its appeal to a young, diverse audience. Simultaneously, it needed to project authority and trust to the partners, corporations, and governments involved.
Speed was of the essence: the visual identity was still being finalized when development began, yet the platform had to be fully operational from day one to handle a massive surge in users, job openings, and educational content.
Optimizing for low bandwidth
The platform was engineered for performance in low-connectivity environments. By prioritizing a lightweight, mobile-first architecture, we ensured seamless access for users on unreliable data plans or entry-level smartphones.
Instant scalability & autonomy
Built to handle massive user surges from the start, the system empowers administrators to manage high-volume content updates—including vacancies and educational modules—with total editorial independence.
WA architecture, Drupal, and Acquia infrastructure
We delivered a robust digital ecosystem by leveraging the synergy between Drupal, Acquia, and PWA technology. This approach provided UNICEF with enterprise-grade governance and a seamless mobile experience. By proactively designing a modular Design System before final branding was set, Dexa maintained high operational agility, ensuring the development phase remained on schedule.
An award-winning, accessible platform built for large-scale social impact
The Drupal platform for NGOs developed for UNICEF 1MIO has established itself as a national hub of opportunities for vulnerable youth. The combination of Drupal, Acquia, and a mobile-first architecture ensured a digital foundation ready to scale, enabling autonomous content publishing and delivering a seamless user experience even in low-connectivity environments.
2,000
25,000+
Unicef
The United Nations Children's Fund is present in over 190 countries, working to promote the rights, education, and protection of children and adolescents. In Brazil, it leads high-impact social initiatives such as 1MIO, part of the global "Generation Unlimited" program.
