YALI Alongside Microsoft ADC Collaborate to Develop Youth Digital Literacy
The Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) and the Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Centre East Africa (YALI) have signed an agreement to provide digital skills programs and solutions to the region’s young leaders.
The ADC will provide YALI participants with capacity-building opportunities in digital skills such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, as well as access to its innovation hub at the Microsoft Garage and mentorship and training opportunities, according to the MoU. YALI, for its part, will work with Microsoft ADC to develop digital skills programs and will provide training participants and alumni with opportunities for training and idea competitions. YALI alumni will also work to spread Microsoft’s digital literacy training to other young people.
Catherine Muraga, the ADC Managing Director, stated at the signing ceremony that the partnership is another step in the organization’s mission to improve digital skills for African youth.
“Partnerships are a vital part of our mission as Microsoft to empower everyone to do more. YALI provides essential skills to build a better future, and we are excited to contribute to improving digital skills among their participants. Preparing young leaders with the knowledge to excel within an increasingly digital-first landscape is a great way to set the continent up for success within the global economy,” said Muraga.
YALI participants will benefit from skills-building programs co-created by ADC at Kenyatta University for the East Africa region, with the goal of improving their digital capabilities as part of their training to add more excellent value to society by sustainably impacting both the public and private sectors.
Prof. Paul Wainaina, the Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor, said: “The engagement between the Young African Leaders Initiative and the ADC is an opportunity to grow the digital skills of our trainees while augmenting the vision and goals of both YALI and the ADC. It is also a great opportunity to engage in designing training modules for our program’s current and future participants.”
The Africa Development Centre, Microsoft’s premier engineering arm in Africa, has begun implementing various projects to improve digital skills, such as the recently concluded Game of Learners university coding competition and several other initiatives ranging from elementary school to the workplace.
“Our digital skilling efforts align with YALI’s vision of providing access to all emerging leaders regardless of socio-economic status. We are actively investing in creating and fulfilling opportunities for all Africans in the drive towards continental digital transformation,” added Muraga.
