An online learning programme piloted by the African Development Bank (AfDB) has given Olashile Odetola, a graduate from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria with a degree in Communication and Language Arts in 2016, digital skills and a sense of confidence
Odetola, 31, was one of two thousand students who took part in the ‘Coding for Employment’ digital training programme launched by the AfDB in partnership with technology firm Microsoft in April 2019 after successful pilots in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire. About 46 per cent of the students have been women.
Odetola said the skills she acquired from the coding programme have made her more competitive in the job market. She was permitted to attend the training class with kids in tow – and was even nursing her last child.
“Never in my life would I have thought that I will have this opportunity. For the first time in my life, I feel confident in myself. I am now working from the comfort of my home in the digital field,” she told a packed auditorium at this year’s African Economic Conference (AEC), held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
After completing the five-week programme, Odetola now works providing annotation and labelling for an online company. “It’s helped me to support the family,” she said.
Uyoyo Edosio, the programme task manager at the bank, said, “Jobs for Youth is operational and we seek to create impact. Not just any impact but the impact that can be scaled. African youth deserve value - that is what the African Development Bank and her partners sought to create.”
“We placed all our bets on the youth and for the first time, the private sector, non-governmental bodies and development institutions like the bank were not speaking profit margin, we were speaking development,” Edosio added.
Overall, the goal is to expand the programme to 130 centres of excellence across Africa over a 10-year period. The aim is to create nine million jobs and to empower young people to become innovative players in the digital economy.
Rich Reynolds, general manager at Microsoft Philanthropies Strategy, “This is just one step on that journey to empower our youth in Africa to get the greatest jobs in computer science.”
