Title: Training digital skills – fostering employment Innovation Third Places „Orange Digital Center”
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Jordan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tunisia
Partner: Orange
Overall term: 2020 to 2022
The digital transformation is touching all areas of life and economic sectors. However, skills shortages are hampering the development of modern local businesses and making countries less attractive as locations for investment. Digital skills in young people are therefore crucial for developing forward-looking labour markets.
In the countries where they are set up, Orange Digital Centers (ODC) improve the digital skills of 20,000 young people (of whom 20 per cent are women) and place them in jobs or paid internships. This enables businesses including Orange to recruit well-trained local specialists.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the telecommunications company Orange are working together to set up Orange Digital Centers (ODC) in 14 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The ODCs offer free courses, events, challenges and internships on real projects aimed at developing young people's digital, entrepreneurial and soft skills.
The ODC includes a Coding School, a workshop with digitally supported equipment (FabLab Solidaire), a start-up accelerator (Orange Fab) and satellites deployed in universities and youth centres outside the capital cities (ODC Clubs).
Orange Africa and the Middle East is cooperating with GIZ on this project as part of the develoPPP programme, which GIZ is implementing on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). In Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia the partnership is supported by BMZ’s Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation, which operates under the Invest for Jobs brand.
Some parts of the project are implemented by local Orange foundations, others in collaboration between Orange and GIZ. The project ist aligned with the national governments' visions and strategies and involves local universities, NGOs, employers and local and international training partners to ensure its connection to and relevance for local labour markets as well as its long-term impact.
Last update: November 2021
