Microsoft Africa Development Center and Young African Leaders Initiative collaborate to advance young digital literacy

In order to work together to offer digital skills programs and solutions to young leaders in the region, the Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) and the Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Centre East Africa (YALI) have signed a memorandum of agreement.

The MoU states that the ADC will give YALI participants access to its innovation hub at the Microsoft Garage, possibilities for mentorship and training, and opportunities to develop their digital skills in areas like the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. To create the digital skills programs, YALI will work with Microsoft ADC. It will also make training participants and its alumni available for training and concept challenges. The YALI graduates will also try to get other young people to take Microsoft’s digital literacy classes.

ADC Managing Director Catherine Muraga emphasized that the cooperation is another milestone in the organization’s objective to enhance digital skilling for African youth in her remarks at the signing event.

“Partnerships are essential to Microsoft’s ambition to enable everyone to do more. We are thrilled to help YALI’s participants become more digitally savvy because they offer crucial skills for creating a better future. A wonderful way to position the continent for success in the global economy is to provide young leaders with the skills necessary to compete in a world that is becoming increasingly digital-first, according to Muraga.

Participants in the YALI will gain access to skill-building programs co-created by ADC and housed at Kenyatta University for the East Africa region, which will help them improve their digital capabilities as part of their training to add more excellent value to society by sustainably impacting both the public and private sector.

Vice Chancellor of Kenyatta University Prof. Paul Wainaina stated: “The collaboration between the Young African Leaders Initiative and the ADC is an opportunity to develop our trainees’ digital abilities while enhancing the vision and objectives of both YALI and the ADC. Additionally, it’s a fantastic chance to work on creating training materials for current and future program participants.

The recently concluded Game of Learners university coding competition and several other initiatives from the elementary school level to the workplace are just a few of the initiatives being implemented by the Africa Development Centre, Microsoft’s premier engineering arm in Africa, to improve digital skills.

“Our efforts to develop digital skills are consistent with YALI’s mission to make rising leaders of all socioeconomic backgrounds accessible. In the effort to achieve continental digital transformation, we are aggressively engaging in developing and achieving opportunities for all Africans, said Muraga.