The African Development Bank, AfDB, is announcing the enrolment of 130,000 users in its Coding for Employment digital skills program. The digital skills training platform was launched in December 2019 in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and Microsoft.
The milestone comes as it works to equip African youth with information and communication technology, entrepreneurship and soft-skills training to compete in a digital economy. The program’s online platforms offer in-demand technical courses such as web development, design, data science and digital marketing for free. It is accessible on mobile devices, even in low internet connectivity settings and has an affordable, easy-to-navigate, secured and private interface. As well as in physical centers of excellence in underserved communities across Africa.
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in lockdowns and school closures across the continent, the Coding for Employment platforms experienced dramatic increases in the number of users. During a one-week period in September 2020, registrations skyrocketed by 38.5%. Through the Bank’s partnership with the Government of Nigeria and Microsoft to launch the Digital Nigeria eLearning platform during the pandemic, it has hit a combined total of 130,000 students. Registered students are achieving a course completion rate of more than 80%.
“To win the battle against poverty in Africa, we must equip our youth with digital skills that empower them for the jobs of the future,” said Martha Phiri, Director of the Bank’s Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department.
Students who took the online courses in the wake of Covid-19 in Africa said learning or honing digital skills helped them advance their careers.
“During the lockdown period, I taught myself Microsoft Excel, using the platform. Participating in the training not only smoothed my rough Excel skills but also gave me the platform to network and push myself,” said program graduate Hajara Ayuba in Nigeria.
“Thanks to the program, I met one of the major criteria – data fluency and MS Excel skills – at my present NYSC place of primary assignment in Borno State Board of Internal Revenue Service. I was later retained in the job,” Ayuba added.
“The online training program started in tandem with the opening planned upgrade of physical Coding for Employment-branded Centers of Excellence piloted in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. The Bank aims to scale up to 130 centers across the continent in a decade.”
“The pandemic accelerated the adoption of online learning as a necessity. Coding for Employment swiftly leveraged its online digital skills platform to continue to offer a gateway for African youth to become more digitally capable,” said Hendrina Chalwe Doroba, the Bank’s Division Manager for Education and Skills Development.
Following the pilot program, Coding for Employment online courses are now available in 45 countries. Some 300 beneficiaries, like Shaawanatu Shuaibu, linked Coding for Employment to getting jobs. Shuaibu a Coding for Employment program graduate from the Gombe State Center of Excellence in Nigeria, said the course had broadened her understanding of content writing.
“I was able to organize the content of my CV, which secured me a call for an interview at Jaiz Bank Plc. My performance at the interview and fluency in communication got me posted to the Customer Service Unit of the Bank,” she added.
The initiative aims to create over 9 million jobs and reach 32 million youth and women across Africa and is part of the AfDB’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Initiative.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Digital SA Nation (SAtion), is collaborating with Microsoft South Africa to create digitally skilled South Africans. By introducing a Digital Skills Hub that will promote digital literacy, skills transfer and upskilling, and close the digital divide. The partnership between the two organizations hopes to aid in the socio-economic transformation of South Africa.
For Microsoft, the partnership with Digital SA Nation will provide opportunities that enable citizens to effectively operate in the digital space. Letting the South African youth unlock their career with skills that will improve their chances of securing a job.
“The digital economy creates the ideal opportunity for job creation,” says Lillian Barnard, General Manager, Microsoft South Africa. It also spurs innovation, boosts economic growth and supports long-term competitiveness“, she adds.
The SAtion Digital Skills Hub will host three initiatives; the Global Skills Initiative, Mahala, and Microsoft Cloud Society. Each initiative will offer different opportunities for all South Africans to acquire digital skills. This includes the youth, unemployed, small, medium and micro enterprises, and government officials.
With the Mahala initiative, South Africans aged 8 to 24 can sign up for the full Microsoft Office 365 free of charge. Through this portal, you will be able to activate Microsoft licenses for the Microsoft Office 365 suite and 5TB OneDrive cloud-based storage.
If you are interested in cloud computing and looking to learn and grow, the Microsoft Cloud Society initiative helps you identify and engage with passionate and influential cloud computing focused experts from the industry. You also get free online training and free or subsidized vouchers to take certification exams.
Through the Global Skills Initiative unemployed or economically disadvantaged South Africans can acquire skills and certification for in-demand jobs. These include roles such as software engineer, data analyst, customer service specialist and more.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Microsoft is offering Office 365 for free to anyone between the ages of 8 to 24 in South Africa. Through a Microsoft initiative called Mahala. The free offer allows you to use the full version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and 5 TB of Onedrive storage on your PC, MAC, mobile phone or tablet.
Microsoft says it has simplified the signup process to remove blockers such as lack of an academic email address. And has extended the benefits to include the installed version of Office instead of limiting it to only web access. More than about 20,000 South Africans are on the Microsoft Mahala platform so far. The main signup requirement is to have a South Africa ID number to verify you qualify for the offer. You can find this ID number on a birth certificate or ID book.
“Providing access to programs such as Word, PowerPoint or Excel, which are common in the modern workplace, ensures that young people are equipped with basic digital literacy skills that are essential to get them employed or self-employed,”
Scroll down to register & complete all the fields.
When choosing a password, ensure it is between 8 – 16 characters and contains letters, numbers and symbols.
Read the Terms and Conditions, tick the box indicating you have, and that someone older than 18 has completed or assisted in registration.
For security reasons, tick the “I’m not a robot” reCAPTCHA.
Click “SIGN ME UP”
Step 3
You’ll receive your welcome email to your Personal Email Inbox, with your Mahala.ms username and password. Use these details to get your copy of Office and OneDrive.
The email contains links to the Mobile Apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. You can also download them directly from your phones App Store.
Windows and Mac users can log into http://portal.office.com and click “Install Office365 to get the Desktop & Laptop versions of Office and OneDrive.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Coursera is collaborating with Microsoft to bring opportunities for skilling in Azure to its 80 million learners. The partnership will see Coursera offer three Microsoft Azure Specialization courses on its platform.
Launching immediately is Azure Fundamentals which gives learners a foundational understanding of Azure cloud services. It also gives basic knowledge to build cloud solutions and helps prepare for the AZ-900 exam certification. This will be followed with Azure AI Fundamentals and Azure Data Fundamentals courses in May.
The AI Fundamentals will teach learners about artificial intelligence (AI) topics, like machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and conversational AI. While Data Fundamentals will dive deep into the roles and tasks involved in using Azure to store, process, manage and analyze data.
Leaners who complete and pass all courses in a specialization will receive a voucher for 50% off the certification exams. Microsoft is offering scholarships to 600 eligible Women in Cloud members to all three Specializations and their respective certifications.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Microsoft is announcing it has helped over 30 million people in 249 countries and territories acquire digital skills. Out of this, over one million learners across Africa participated in the Microsoft Global Skills program.
The global skills initiative offers free online courses across Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub learning platforms. It seeks to help people, mostly those affected by the pandemic gain in-demand skills to be employable.
Across the Middle East and Africa region, 2.1 million learners have participated in the program. With software development, customer service, project manager and data analysis being the popular learning paths among learners.
The top 10 countries with learners across Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Comoros, Sao tome and Principe, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles and the Central African Republic are countries with less than 500 learners.
To get more Africans to acquire digital skills, Microsoft is also partnering with organizations and governments. Offering additional funding and services to make this possible where this is necessary.
Microsoft is extending the free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs offer through 2021.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
The world’s first graduate-level, research-based artificial intelligence university, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), officially welcomes its first student cohort.
The first cohort is made up of 78 students from 29 countries across the globe. 13 PhD students and 65 MSc students, enrolled in MBZUAI’s Machine Learning and Computer Vision programs.
The artificial intelligence university is located in Abu Dhabi, is a graduate-level, research-based academic institution. Offering specialized degree programs for local and international students in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
The school aims to support the advancement of scientific research, development, transfer, and use of Artificial Intelligence through its programs.
Professor Dr. Eric Xing, President of MBZUAI, speaking during the welcome event of the students, notes the vision of the school is to nurture a new generation to unlock the potential of AI.
“AI is one of the most transformational technologies of the modern age, providing tremendous opportunities for humankind. The vision for MBZUAI is to nurture a new generation of leaders in science, engineering, policy and business with the necessary understanding to unlock the potential of AI through their academic research and industrial applications. We will deliver excellence in the field of AI education, research and development, through a world-class curriculum and collaborative projects with industry leaders. I welcome our first students, and look forward to working alongside them as we explore the future of AI.“
MBZUAI will focus its research and development on four pillars. Services and Quality of Life, to improve services offered by the public and private sectors. Industrial and Manufacturing Technologies, to enhance efficiencies and improve productivity. Future Game Changers, to nurture the growth of new and emerging high-value sectors. And Sustainability of Vital Resources and Environment, using AI to optimize the consumption of water and energy to protect the environment.
MBZUAI is already accepting applications for the Fall 2021 start in Computer Vision and Machine Learning MSc and PhD programs
Check out full admissions requirements and application details on the university website.
[jetpack_subscription_form show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox.” custom_font_size=”16″ custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
