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For its sixth academy on the continent, Smart Africa Alliance has chosen Sierra Leone. In partnership with the local government, the think tank will help increase digital skills in the country.
Sierra Leone has just taken another step towards improving the digital space. The government through the Ministry of Information and Communication signed on Tuesday, March 4 in Freetown, a memorandum of understanding with the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) to set up a digital academy in the country and support it in the transformation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Like all digital academies launched by Smart Africa, SADA Sierra Leone will offer advanced training in ICT, Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity to Sierra Leonean trainers and executives. This approach will help the country build digital skills to support its ambition to revive the national digital ecosystem in a rapidly changing digital environment.
“President Julius Maada Bio has said in many cases that Sierra Leone cannot afford to miss out on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The World Bank has supported the government with a $50 million digital transformation project to improve digital training and improve broadband connectivity,” said Mohamed Rahman Swaray (pictured, right), Minister of Information and Communication.
Sierra Leone is the sixth country on the continent to benefit from such an academy, after Rwanda, Ghana and the Republic of Congo, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. The pan-African group plans to install them in Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Kenya, Djibouti.
This continental deployment is part of a digital skills gap in an ever-changing digital world. A deficit highlighted by the report published last November by the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) which believes that Africa needs to train 650 million people in digital skills by 2030 for the continent to take full advantage of the enormous potential of the digital economy.
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