The African Development Bank (AfDB) has partnered the Facebook, Microsoft, and Rockefeller Foundation to launch the Coding for Employment Program, aimed at training the next generation of African innovators.
The initiative, launched at the African Innovation Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, will provide youth with demand-driven ICT skills and match graduates directly with employers, aiming to empower the next generation of young digital innovators from the continent.
The Coding for Employment Program aims to put Africa’s youth on a path to prosperity and equip 50 million youth with employable skills and create 25 million jobs in agriculture, information communications and technology and other key industries across Africa by 2025.
According to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Managing Director for Africa, Mamadou Biteye, Coding for Employment accelerates investments in Africa’s most valuable resource – its young women and men. That’s why the Rockefeller Foundation is thrilled to join forces with the African Development Bank to help every young African reach their full potential.
He stated that the partnership with the African Development Bank will establish 130 Centres of Excellence across Africa to help bridge the gap between the digital hiring news of employers and the skills of Africa’s youth.
To buttress Biteye’s point, Ghada Khalifa, Director of Microsoft Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa, said digital skills were fast. She disclosed that 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.
The Coding for Employment Program is at the center of the African Development Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Initiative.
