Global: centres for digital transformation

They make people fit for the future. As part of a development partnership between GIZ and the French telecommunications company Orange, modern digital centres are being set up in a total of 14 countries. The Orange Digital Centers increase employment opportunities for young people and are open to schoolchildren, trainees and students. They can all benefit from a wide range of activities such as training, coaching, mentoring talks and challenges and thus gain additional qualifications in digital skills. The project specifically involves local universities, employers, and other interesting stakeholders.

Another focus is on getting more women interested in the IT

sector. The project is aiming for a share of at least 20 per cent – both among the 20,000 young people who are to be made fit for the job market within three years and among the 8,000 of them who are to be placed directly in jobs or paid internships. At the same time, it supports digital transformation in Africa and the Middle East. In addition to Orange, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is funding the project, which started in 2020 and will run until the end of 2022. BMZ funding is provided as part of the develoPPP programme for sustainable business initiatives and through the special initiative Training and Employment, and is helping to implement BMZ’s Digital Strategy.

Practice-oriented programming schools

In addition to technical equipment, the centres offer a wide range of digital learning content. Intensive training courses and internships with a total of 2,160 participants have already been held at the first locations, including courses on programming languages, artificial intelligence, web design and data science. Additional courses on artificial intelligence, soft skills and management skills have already been initiated; they also pursue the goal of giving more young women the qualifications they need to work in the IT

industry. Despite the constraints of the coronavirus pandemic, the first digital centres were able to open in Tunisia, Cameroon, Senegal and Ethiopia. As a result, around 560 young people have already found a job or a paid internship.