Unpacking the impact: SADA National Academy in Rwanda – Closing the digital gap through capacity building

Digital skills are the backbone of digital transformation, useful and crucial for individual growth and national development. This is an indisputable fact that has been largely embraced. The big question, however, is how digital skills development can be inclusive, effective and sustainable. Ensuring these skills are accessible to everyone, from the educated to ordinary citizens by tailoring content to each one’s level, is a task that Smart Africa embarked upon, using the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) as the vehicle for implementation. The initiative is expanding footprints across Africa, to meet its mission of empowering Africans to leverage digital transformation. Take Rwanda where, thanks to SADA, 632 government officials and members of security organs acquired and honed their skills in various ICT and digital programs. Ahead of launch in March this year, SADA collaborated with the government and other institutions in implementing digital literacy trainings for security forces. Facilitated by Rwanda Management Institute these trainings took place in Rwanda Military Academy premises in Gako, Eastern province, and Nyakinama in Northern Province. Trainees dived deep into computer and online essentials, cyber security, presentation and online collaboration, among others modules. Trainees underwent regular testing, diagnostic tests and practical exams to assess the success of the teachings. In May, policy and decision makers convened for a three-day workshop on data center and cloud infrastructure. Made possible by a partnership between Smart Africa and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the workshop explored cloud use cases, cloud business and financial model for Rwanda, identification of market and workloads, etc. The workshop was part of Smart Africa’s Data Centre and Cloud for Africa project, designed to tackle the challenges in Africa’s data center and cloud market and ultimately meet the digital transformation needs of Africa. In July this year, SADA in partnership with Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) kicked off IT advanced trainings for IT personnel from lead ministries and affiliated agencies with the aim to ensure staff work readiness and enhance productivity. Up to 100 beneficiaries drilled down into cutting edge modules namely CCNP, CompTIA S+, Mongo DB, Python Programming and Azure 104. In forthcoming phases of SADA Rwanda National Academy, over a thousand beneficiaries are set to be impacted in different subjects. These include different initiatives such as Skills for Innovation in collaboration with Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) and Rwanda TVET Board (RTB), Entrepreneurship training of trainers and IT advanced Trainings in collaboration with different sectors. As the journey embarked on by Rwanda’s digital journey is at a remarkable rate a peer learning exchange program is being planned during in December 2022 between Benin’s Startup Ecosystem and Rwanda. The impact made thus far, demonstrates that reducing the digital skills gap, is a worthwhile and feasible endeavor especially when partnership is made use of. It is quite a task, too complex for one entity to solely accomplish. With Rwanda working towards having 60% of its adult population equipped with digital skills, SADA capacity building programs offer a vital backing to this great ambition. As Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation Hon. Paula Ingabire stated during the launch: SADA National Academy is strategic and imperative to our efforts for digital inclusion and bridging the digital skills gap. Similarly, commenting on the launch of SADA, Mr. Lacina Koné emphasized that Rwanda is one of the pioneers of digital adoption and has been doing an amazing job in improving digital skills for its citizens.

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Unpacking the impact: SADA National Academy in Rwanda – Closing the digital gap through capacity building