Conquering Africa’s digital divide: SAP Africa Code Week empowers 2.6 million youth in 2022

An estimated 230 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills in 2030, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). One programme supporting young Africans to take advantage of these opportunities is the continent’s biggest youth digital skills initiative, SAP Africa Code Week (ACW) which actively engaged +2,6 million participants in 2022, by equipping them with 21st-century skills. “Since ACW’s launch in 2015, SAP, UNESCO, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and Irish Aid share a common goal to empower young people with the digital skills set they need today to ensure they are prepared for the workforce of tomorrow,” comments Claire Gillissen-Duval, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility EMEA and MEE at SAP.

She says that through 37 121 workshops held across the continent, she is thrilled to report that more than 48% of participants were female, with an additional 9,900 youth with special needs. “Today’s digital world is continually evolving and changing through the rapid adoption of technology, this is widening Africa’s digital divide with even more marginalized and underserved communities getting left behind.”

Collaboration is key to powering digital learning

Partnerships are at the core of the SAP ACW model. In 2022, Morocco has led the continent’s conversation around equipping young people with digital skills, followed by Nigeria and Cameroon. “This year, we saw 1,4 million participants from Morocco, 100 000 in Nigeria, and in Cameroon, we had 897 000,” says Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. “One of the reasons behind the major success of ACW in those countries, and especially in Morocco, has been partnering with the governments and particularly, with the Ministries of Education. To illustrate this, Ilham Laaziz, Director of the GENIE program at the Moroccan The Ministry of National Education, Early Education, and Athletics, highlights that the Moroccan government has deployed several initiatives to integrate digital skills in schools. “Joining forces with the private sector has proven to result in a powerful synergy. Beyond launching a generation of future coders, we seek to develop the algorithmic mindset that will enable them to acquire logical reasoning skills and problem-solving skills they need to lead successful careers and contribute to the development of our country – and our continent.”

Coding Africa’s school curricula

Over the past seven years, close to 14 million students and teachers from 48 countries have been empowered with digital skills through ACW. 2023 will now see the coding program shift into the second phase by accelerating this process even further to ensure greater impact and reach.

“There are approximately 300 million young people in Africa, and our goal is to empower each and every one of them with digital skills,” says Emmanuel Raptopoulos, President of SAP’s EMEA South region, which includes Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. “A vision like ours requires all stakeholders to work together and collaborate for the betterment of the continent and its future leaders. This is why the ACW curriculum will be handed to governments to support them in introducing coding into school curricula.”

Commencing the two-year action plan, ACW hosted a three-day event in Morocco in Rabat which was attended by various government officials and education representatives from ten African countries. The gathering marked the start of a two-year transition period, where governments will play an even greater role in fostering the adoption of coding by running the ACW program as part of their curricula.

“This was the start of a bigger vision which calls for governments to play a bigger role in encouraging the use of coding in schools by implementing the ACW program into their curricula,” says Julius Fomboh, Inspector General of Pedagogy in charge of Computer Science Education in the Ministry of Secondary Education in Cameroon, and member of the ACW transition taskforce. “In order for the continent to successfully equip young people with the skills required for the future, all stakeholders need to come together and unite.”

Gillissen-Duval concludes, “To date, nine African countries have officially adopted coding as a mandatory subject in public education. This number must grow to level the playing field and ensure every African child, youth and teacher has the opportunity to reach their potential and contribute to their community. By investing in digital education, African nations choose to create a better future for their citizens and equip them with the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing 21st century world.”

Five Minutes with ACW Patron, Albert Nsengiyumva

 Albert Nsengiyumva from the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) shares his thoughts on the past two years of Africa Code Week and the role digital skills play in preparing African youth for the future

 

 

What do you love about Africa Code Week?

I love how the program is free to learners and teachers across Africa and that it offers them an opportunity to enhance their digital skills. Coding and computational thinking are so important for Africa’s youth. Without them, young people won’t be ready for the jobs of the future in which humans will work alongside machines through artificial intelligence. One of the other things I love about Africa Code Week is its focus improving digital education for girls.

What role does ADEA play?

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) partnered with Africa Code Week in 2020, joining UNESCO and Irish Aid to provide the expertise and government relations. As the Executive Secretary of ADEA and official ACW Patron, I see our role as fighting for quality, inclusive education in Africa that is relevant to the needs of business and industry in the 21st century.

How is Africa Code Week helping prepare children across the continent for the future?

Because Africa has the youngest population in the world, it’s important that we give African youth a ladder to climb their way out of poverty. In my view, this can only be done through education and through events like Africa Code Week which provide young people with valuable coding skills. Coding is a language and if young people are fluent in it, they will be better prepared for the digital world.

In what ways has Africa Code Week had to adapt due to the impact of COVID-19?


In 2020, Africa Code Week pivoted from in-person events to holding most events online. Surprisingly, these virtual events had a much greater reach and were able to be enjoyed by students and teachers in many more African countries. For instance, in 2020 we successfully reached 1.5 million youth, of which nearly half were girls. Over 10,500 workshops were held across 43 countries and 21,000 teachers participated in Train-the-Trainer sessions. This is a real accomplishment and something to be proud of.


Looking ahead, what are your plans for Africa Code Week?

Our goals remain the same: to empower young Africans with digital literacy skills. How we do it may change, as evidenced by the evolution to virtual training sessions due to the global pandemic and the launch of the smartphone app in 2020. What I would really like to see are more African governments pledging to offer coding as part of their national school curriculum. So far, through the efforts of Africa Code Week, nine countries have already done so. I’d like to see a whole lot more!

 

Albert Nsengiyumva is the Executive Secretary of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, one of the key partners for Africa Code Week, along with SAP, UNESCO, and Irish Aid. 

Africa Code Week’ AfriCAN Code Challenge 2021 TOP 20 is announced!

Returning for a second edition, the AfriCAN Code Challenge is a pan-African coding competition where youth aged 8 to 16 were tasked with coding a game using the Scratch programming language to show how they would change the world with their superpowers. Youth were able to enter alone or in teams of up to five people, tapping into a wide range of essential skills from problem-solving and coding all the way to teamwork and communications. Each entry had to include a three-minute YouTube video showing how the game works and why it should win.

 

In total, 40 countries participated, with over 100 project videos submitted. The top three entries from 36 countries made it into the continental final, with 20 projects making it to the final judging stage!

 

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De retour pour la deuxième édition, l'AfriCAN Code Challenge est un concours de codage pour les jeunes de 8 à 16 ans. Leur mission : programmer un jeu en utilisant le langage de programmation Scratch sur le thème : « Change le monde avec tes super pouvoirs ! » Les jeunes pouvaient participer seuls ou en équipes de cinq personnes maximums, en faisant appel à un large éventail de compétences essentielles - de la résolution de problèmes à la programmation en passant par le travail d'équipe et la communication. Chaque participation devait inclure une vidéo YouTube de trois minutes montrant le fonctionnement du jeu.

 

Au total, 40 pays ont participé, et plus de 100 vidéos de projets ont été soumises. Les trois meilleurs projets de 36 pays ont été retenus pour la finale continentale : sur ces 36 projets, 20 projets ont été retenus pour la dernière phase!

 

Here are the 20 projects that made it through to the final round / Voici les 20 projets finalistes :

 

Ivory Coast:  Mégaménage
Niger:  Rayuwa
Gabon:  Stop Déchet
Djibouti: Ecole Excellence
Madagascar: Pensons civisme
Tunisia: Le toucher du bonheur
Nigeria: The Carbon Man
The Gambia: Quiz Game
Rwanda: Master Jump Game
Uganda: Save Planet Earth Project
Ethiopia: Kids Academy
Mauritius: Super Recyclers
South Africa: Eco friendly game
Zimbabwe: Recycle it
Sudan: Saving Children
Seychelles: The Prodigies
Capo Verde : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_i1RC73Cmk 
Sao Tome & Principe: Helper intrigue
Morocco: Super Hero 
Libya: https://youtu.be/9sYZNsYEjFs

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