Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) and Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Centre East Africa (YALI) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate in offering digital skills programs and solutions to young leaders in the region. The partnership is aimed at providing YALI participants with capacity-building opportunities in digital skills such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT).
Under the agreement, the ADC will provide YALI participants with access to its innovation hub at the Microsoft Garage, training opportunities, and mentorship programs. YALI, on the other hand, will collaborate with the ADC in developing digital skills programs and will provide training participants and its alumni for training and idea competitions. The YALI alumni will also be tasked with spreading Microsoft’s digital literacy training to other youth.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Catherine Muraga, the ADC Managing Director, noted that partnerships are essential in the organization’s mission to improve digital skilling for African youth. Muraga added that 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.
YALI, housed at the Kenyatta University for the East Africa region, will benefit from skills-building programs co-created by ADC aimed at improving their digital capabilities as part of their training to add more excellent value to society through sustainably impacting both public and private sector. Prof. Paul Wainaina, the Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor, also noted that the engagement between YALI and the ADC is an opportunity to grow the digital skills of trainees while augmenting the vision and goals of both YALI and the ADC.
The Africa Development Centre, Microsoft’s premier engineering arm in Africa, is already implementing various projects to improve digital skills, including the recently concluded Game of Learners university coding competition and several other initiatives from the elementary school level into the workplace. The partnership with YALI is aimed at aligning Microsoft’s digital skilling efforts with YALI’s vision of providing access to all emerging leaders, regardless of socio-economic status.
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