The African Development Bank announced the enrollment of 130,000 users in its Coding for Employment digital skills initiative on International Youth Day.
The achievement comes as Coding for Employment seeks to provide African youth with information and communication technology, entrepreneurship, and soft-skills training in order for them to participate in a digital economy.
The program’s online platforms provide free access to in-demand technical courses such as web development, design, data science, and digital marketing.
With the advent of the Covid-19 outbreak, which resulted in lockdowns and school closures across the continent, the number of users on Coding for Employment sites increased dramatically. Registrations increased by 38.5 percent during a one-week period in September 2020.
Coding for Employment has reached a total of 130,000 students thanks to the Bank’s collaboration with the Government of Nigeria to develop the Digital Nigeria eLearning website during the pandemic. Registered students complete their courses at a rate of greater than 80%.
“In order to win the struggle against poverty in Africa, we must educate our children with digital skills that will prepare them for future jobs,” said Martha Phiri, Director of the Bank’s Human Capital, Youth, and Skills Development Department.
Students who completed online courses in the aftermath of Covid-19 in Africa reported that learning or sharpening digital skills helped them improve in their careers.
“During the lockout, I used the Coding for Employment website to teach myself MS Excel. Participating in the course not only smoothed up my basic Excel abilities, but it also provided me with a platform to network and push myself,” stated program graduate Hajara Ayuba from Nigeria.
In a decade, the bank hopes to expand to 130 sites across the continent.
“Thanks to the Coding for Employment program, I was able to meet one of the major criteria for data fluency and MS Excel skills at my current NYSC primary assignment in the Borno State Board of Internal Revenue Service. “I was later maintained in my position,” Ayuba remarked.
The main digital training platform for Coding for Employment was introduced in December 2019 in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation and Microsoft. It is available on mobile devices, even in areas with limited internet availability, and features a cheap, simple-to-use, secure, and private interface.
“The online training program began concurrently with the scheduled update of physical Coding for Employment-branded Centers of Excellence piloted in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. In a decade, the Bank hopes to expand to 130 facilities across the continent.”
“The pandemic has pushed the implementation of online learning as a must. Coding for Employment quickly leveraged its online digital skills platform to continue to give a doorway for African youth to become more digitally capable,” said Hendrina Chalwe Doroba, Division Manager for Education and Skills Development at the Bank.
Coding for Employment online courses are currently available in 45 countries as a result of the pilot initiative. Some 300 recipients, including Shaawanatu Shuaibu, linked Coding for Employment to job placement. Shuaibu, a Coding for Employment program alumnus from Nigeria’s Gombe State Center of Excellence, stated that the training enhanced her grasp of content writing.
“I was able to manage the substance of my CV, which landed me an interview at Jaiz Bank Plc. “My interview performance and communication fluency landed me a position in the bank’s Customer Service Unit,” she continued.
Coding for Employment promises to create over 9 million employment and reach 32 million African youth and women. The Coding for Employment Program is part of the African Development Bank’s Jobs for Youth Initiative.
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