Atingi the digital learning platform of The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has surpassed expectations in its first year. Atingi has reached almost a million people in Africa in twelve months and has already helped 100,000 of them to access free vocational education and self-development courses.
Atingi in Esperanto means “to achieve” and through modern digital learning opportunities, the platform aims to enhance the employability of young people. Through the atingi platform, educational content which meets the needs of African audiences is made available free of charge through a broad network of strategic cooperation partners, from politics and business to science and civil society.
While atingi has been developed for individuals in all partner countries of the German Development Partnership, the current emphasis is primarily on promoting African economic growth. For a more intense interaction, BMZ has selected four pilot countries, understanding that each is at a very different level of digital transformation – and is therefore ideal as a test case to identify pan-African scaling opportunities. Near cooperation with the pilot countries Togo, Niger, Rwanda and Benin enables complex evaluation, adaptation and targeted local needs of the atingi learning proposal.
ATINGI’s structure for development collaboration draws on established local and global collaborations. A increasing network of strategic collaboration partners has emerged alongside the four pilot countries for the production and delivery of learning material. The cornerstones of effective scaling of atingi are renowned international partners such as Smart Africa (an alliance of 30 African digital ministries), UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Siemens Foundation. And that is precisely the long-term aim of the project: to scale up the network internationally in all German Development Cooperation partner countries.
Jan-Gerrit Groeneveld, the atingi project chief, is inspired by the progress and first stage results of the atingi initiative. He points out that “eLearning is ideal for the digital transfer of knowledge and improvement of the living conditions for many people in African countries. The Corona pandemic once again incontravertibly demonstrated to us how important it is to digitalise education, thereby facilitating access for all”
He added that atingi has succeeded in enabling individuals on the ground to obtain education and training through the latest technology; both ensuring that individuals easily access the advancement of skills and that digital transformation is also advanced significantly in Africa. “Early user acceptance of the learning platform has exceeded initial expectations, which strengthens our belief that investing in digital education infrastructure on the African continent is the right way for us to contribute to unlocking the enormous local economic potential.”
Groeneveld also noted that atingi’s goal for the next year is to rise rapidly in terms of user numbers, scale up active approaches in the four pilot countries in other African markets, and gradually extend collaboration with businesses and contributors to learning content.
The target recipients of the atingi platform are young people, women and people in rural regions. The courses offered cover a broad variety of topics aimed at increasing employability and skills, such as vocational orientation, fitness, entrepreneurship and agriculture. With the support of local, strategic cooperation partners, these modules are extended and built in a targeted manner. To provide proof of the skills learned that can be applied to their CVs, active learners who complete the courses obtain free digital certificates.