Ethiopia to Train 5 Million Coders with UAE Support

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali (PhD), in partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has kicked off a nationwide initiative to provide foundational digital skills training to five million Ethiopian youth over the next three years.

Titled “5 Million Ethiopian Coders,” the initiative aims to empower Ethiopia’s youth, particularly young women, with the tools to thrive in the digital age.

“The 5 Million Ethiopian Coders Initiative we launched today is a great opportunity, and I call upon everyone to encourage the youth to register for the program, gain skills, and acquire international certification,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed shared on X, formerly Twitter. “My greatest gratitude goes to the government of the United Arab Emirates for the partnership in this large-scale capacity-building project,” he added.

Inspired by the UAE’s “One Million Arab Coders” program, launched in 2017, the initiative will focus on reaching youth in both urban and rural areas, integrating digital literacy training into school and vocational curricula.

The program offers three courses: Programming Fundamentals, Data Science Fundamentals, and Android Kotlin Developer. Participants will undergo six to seven weeks of training. The courses will be provided for free on Udacity, a US-based online learning platform that focuses on technology and career development, offering nanodegree programs and courses in areas such as data science, AI, and software engineering.

However, according to the information obtained from the initiative’s website, Udacity is a private online education provider that is not accredited by an official institution. Nonetheless, the Ethiopian Coders certificate will be signed by Udacity’s founder, Sebastian Thrun, and will contain a unique code that can be verified for each individual.

The announcement comes just a few days after the two countries signed a bilateral currency swap agreement valued at up to 46 billion birr ($816.79 million). The central banks of the two nations have also agreed to interlink their instant payment systems, national card switches, and messaging systems, adhering to each country’s regulatory requirements.

In recent years, Ethiopia has seen the emergence of numerous initiatives aimed at building the nation’s tech talent pipeline. In March, IE Network Solutions launched its Tech Talent Academy, aiming to train 5,000 tech talents over the next five years.

ALX Ethiopia and Gebeya are also prominent names in the tech talent space. ALX Ethiopia has trained and graduated over 1,000 tech talents in software development, cloud computing, Salesforce, data science, and other emerging technologies, with many graduates securing work on Upwork.

Gebeya, on the other hand, recently partnered with Microsoft to empower 300,000 African talents over the next three years with cloud and AI skills. Last month, Safaricom, in partnership with Gebeya Inc., announced the launch of the Safaricom Talent Cloud, an initiative designed to empower tech professionals and entrepreneurs in Ethiopia.

Another partnership was officially launched today, July 23, 2024, between Wingu Africa and Gebeya. The collaboration aims to train and certify 1,000 young people in data center infrastructure and technologies within the next year through a unique talent cloud platform.