AFDB launches coding centres of excellence across Africa

The African Development Bank in partnership with Microsoft and The Rockerfeller Foundation has launched a Coding for employment digital training platform for young people. The platform was launched at the 2019 African Economic Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt and the objective of the initiative was to promote continuous learning culture among young people and build their capacity to shape the continent’s future.

The digital platform can be can be accessed in 54 African counties and is currently developing 14 ultra-modern centres specialised in ICT and entrepreneurship skills trainings for youth. It has been piloted in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.The conference connected heads of state, ministers and leaders from the private sector and academia to discuss how this new tool and other technological innovations could be used to spur development across the continent.

“The youth employment and skills development challenge is a complex issue that requires systemic thinking and bold partnerships, to address the existing skills gap and link youth to decent and sustainable employment,” said Hendrina Doroba, African Development Bank’s Acting Director for Human Capital, Youth & Skills Development.

The program offers technical courses such as web development, design, data science and digital marketing and will be constantly adapted to respond to market demand. It is accessible on mobile devices, even in low internet connectivity settings and has an affordable, easy-to-navigate, secured and private interface.

According to Ghada Khalifa, Director of Microsoft Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa,“A defining challenge of our time is ensuring that everyone has equal opportunity to benefit from technology. Forward-thinking initiatives such as the digital training platform represent our commitment to helping drive the momentum needed. Though there is still much work to be done, we believe that through dynamic partnerships such as these, we can help build a knowledge-based economy in Africa that leaves no person behind.”

The Coding for Employment Program is an essential part of the African Development Bank’s strategic agenda because it will create 25 million jobs by 2025, and will equip 50 million African youth with competitive skills. It will create nine million jobs by building synergies with the public and the private sector globally to deliver demand-driven, agile and collaborative skills to empower young people to become innovative players in the digital economy.