In July 2018 Microsoft, Facebook and The Rockefeller Foundation partnered with the African Development Bank to announce Coding for Employment. An initiative seeking to bridge the digital skills divide among African youths.
To kick start the program and to celebrate women’s month Microsoft and the African Development Bank(AfDB) have started a month long all-female ICT and digital skills bootcamp on two campuses(Centres of Excellence) in Nigeria. Gombe State University and Covenant University located in Gombe and Ogun States respectively.
“The all-female cohort of the Coding for Employment Program is to increase the number of female coders, accelerate gender equality and empowerment for women and girls in the digital era“. The program “aspires that the all-female cohort will spark an interest in more girls and young women to pursue STEM. That’s encourage them to pursue realizations in STEM related fields“.
The ADB says “the programme acts as an entry point for young female participants who are keen to find jobs within the growing ICT sector. At the end of the course, participants may continue to a more advanced level or simply use their new skills to enhance their job searches.”
AfDB program Task Manager Coding For Employment, Uyoyo Edosio spoke at the launch of the pilot scheme at the Covenant University. She said “In the next 10 years, AfDB will be working at increasing ICT Centres of Excellence in the continent. Creating over 1.9 million jobs. We are building a whole value chain from this launch”
160 young women have ben selected to participate in the month-long all-female coding class in Nigeria.
The partnership between Microsoft and the African Development Bank will continue to focus on increasing the participation of underserved youth and women while equipping youth across Africa with the skills needed to fill jobs now and in the future,” – Ghada Khalifa, Director of Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa
Under the program so far Microsoft and the AfDB have trained 555 participants in a 3 day Hour of Code campaign. Microsoft has also trained 80 instructors in Nigeria and 60 in Kenya to deliver the basic ICT skills material. The Afbd will be launching an aggregated online training and talent portal with content from LinkedIn Learning.
The coding for employment program, still on a pilot scheme will be rolled out at 14 centres of excellence across Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – The Abu Dhabi Smart Solutions and Services Authority (ADSSSA) today announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to establish a ‘Cloud centre of Excellence’ that will aim to build its capacity for the delivery of cloud services and platforms, as well as upskill the emirate’s public sector workforce.
This partnership is aligned with ADSSSA’s strategy and ongoing commitment to drive Abu Dhabi’s digital transformation and adoption of emerging technologies. The MoU strengthens the collaboration between ADSSSA and Microsoft, whose cloud infrastructure serves more than a billion customers globally and follows Microsoft’s recent announcement of choosing United Arab Emirates for their first Middle East cloud data centre.
“This partnership represents a new step towards driving digital transformation in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, consolidating its global position in technology and developing innovative solutions,” said H.E. Dr Rauda Saeed Al Saadi, Director General of the Smart Solutions & Services Authority.
“In line with Abu Dhabi’s ‘Ghadan 21’ plan, the Emirate aims to provide government institutions with qualified human capital and the ability to deal with the best digital solutions and advanced technology to provide the best services.
The Authority also seeks to strengthen its partnerships with leading companies in the field of modern technology to better integrate government agencies and enable them to provide innovative services that contribute to the government’s progress. ”
Microsoft, ADSSSA Collaboration
Microsoft’s collaboration with ADSSSA will focus on the establishment of a Cloud Centre of Excellence. Under the agreement, Microsoft will provide instructor-led training for 240 government employees from various departments and agencies. The training will be distributed across 11 tracks, and will encompass all Microsoft skill levels, from 0 to 300. Instruction will ensure that Government of Abu Dhabi employees are well-versed in such technologies as Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, Office 365, data, AI and Dynamics 365.
Through Cloud Society in Box, Abu Dhabi Government employees will receive access to an online training portal hosted on ADSSSA Azure Tenant that can be customised to assign and track training paths. Microsoft specialists will be on hand to deliver regular support to all training delegates and guide them on their upskilling journeys.
In delivering best-in-breed solutions at scale, tight and fluid teamwork is indispensable. Abu Dhabi Government employees across agencies and departments will be introduced to a new collaboration platform built on Microsoft Teams and Yammer, allowing them to share success stories, best practices and technical resources.
“Microsoft has been a steadfast partner in Abu Dhabi’s digital transformation journey,” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Global Sales, Marketing and Operations, Microsoft. “The opportunity technology presents to engage citizens, empower public servants, optimise operations and reinvent service-delivery models is unprecedented. We have also been a fierce proponent of upskilling and reskilling, at all levels of society, to prepare for our shared digital future. Our collaboration with ADSSSA will further drive digital transformation across government departments as well as spur economic growth and accelerate Abu Dhabi’s vision and objectives.”
As part of the collaboration, ADSSSA will render support by providing training courses for all employees of government agencies in the field of information technology in order to develop their capabilities and potential, and provide innovative technological services to enhance performance and government excellence.
Microsoft opens up its student scholarship program globally. Students in Nigeria can now apply for a Microsoft Tuition Scholarship.
The Microsoft scholarship program is an initiative to encourage students to pursue computer science and related STEM disciplines. Microsoft awards this to students who demonstrate passion for technology, academic excellence and leadership. The award was previously opened to university students in United States, Canada or Mexico.
The scholarship page says;
Welcome to the Microsoft Tuition Scholarship application page! Each year Microsoft awards Tuition Scholarships designed to empower the students that study Computer Science and related STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) disciplines. We look forward to reviewing your application.
Note: To be eligible for the scholarship, you must be enrolled full time in a bachelor’s degree program at a four year university at the time you submit the application.
If this is an opportunity you’ve been looking for, click to apply and submit your application.
Kenya environment and health reporter, Verah Okeyo, wins Microsoft Modern Journalism and ICFJ Alumni reporting grant program award.
Verah Okeyo is an environment and health reporter at The Daily Nation in Kenya. She is one of the first two Microsoft Modern Journalism grant program award recipients. Her project looks to uncover why child mortality is declining in some Kenyan counties and rising in others.
Microsoft’s Modern Journalism program is a Data Journalism and Immersive Storytelling grant initiative in partnership with International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The imitative will award grants to alums of ICFJ programs for reporting projects focusing on data journalism and immersive technology. In two phases, there will be the Data Journalism award and the Storytelling award, with two recipients in each category.
Microsoft says it “recognizes not just the fundamental need for a free press., But also the fundamental need for the free press to adapt to how people seek information.”
“How can we help journalists around the world tell stories. From sports updates to watchdog investigations, in ways that promote transparency, understanding and engagement?
The grant program will operate in two phases. The first will award funding and hands-on data journalism training to two alumni of ICFJ programs. The second phase will award grants for funding and training journalists need to pioneer storytelling using immersive technologies like livestreaming and mixed reality.” – Microsoft
ICJF’s Senior Vice President of new initiatives, Sharon Moshavi, talks about the collaboration with Microsoft.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Microsoft Modern Journalism Initiative. To support reporting projects focused on data analysis and immersive storytelling. Through these projects, we aim to highlight innovative ways that journalists can enhance news coverage and connect more deeply with audiences.”
Child Mortality Project
Verah Okeyo’s data driven investigations will use demographic health surveys, studies and research to track Kenya’s child mortality since 1965. She says “rather than selecting a county or a set of circumstances from the outset, the investigation will follow a meaningful analysis of the available data.”
“Okeyo will work with her colleagues at the Nation Media Group science desk to investigate child mortality trends in Kenya. By pairing demographic data analysis with field reporting at health facilities. She says the team hopes their work will inform ongoing efforts to extend the lifespan of children in the country”. – ICJF
Verah will receive $7,500 and hands-on data visualization training using Microsoft Power BI.
The second part of the grant, Immersive Storytelling is currently opened. It is opened to journalists from all beats who would benefit from immersing audiences in their stories. Click to apply.
Are you a Tech Startup in South Africa and looking for help to grow? Do you need the right doors opened throughout your journey? Then this is your opportunity to take the first step. Introducing Head Start a Microsoft initiative to provide support for startups in South Africa announced last year.
The Microsoft event for startups is themed “Opening tomorrow’s door for today’s startups“. Microsoft’s Head Start programme will help tech startups by giving them access to a variety of skills development resources, coaches and mentors, Microsoft’s customer network and the platform on which to build their products and services.
Registerand begin the journey to get ahead of the pack and stay there.
Venue : The River Club, Liesbeek Avenue, Observatory, Cape Town
According to Microsoft, the event will see startups exposed to it’s: Technology, Business development and Compliance, regulation and legal doors.
Technology: Microsoft’s experts and architects will help tech startups to build the right solutions. Business development: experts will help the startups grow their customer base by introducing them to Microsoft’s extensive worldwide network of enterprises, governments, and startups from around the world. Compliance, regulation and legal: will see Microsoft’s legal and corporate affairs team on standby to assist startups where needed.
Selected startups will learn topics such as Taking your business to the clouds. Building low cost, scalable applications on Azure, Doing ethical business, Market Acquisition for Startups and more.
If this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for, register to participate.
