ICT stakeholders are working on developing the Citizen Digital Skills Program, one of the main pillars in Kenya’s National Digital Master Plan (2022-2032) meant to foster the contributions of ICT in accelerating economic growth.
The program is on track following the identification of five key ICT subjects namely Foundation, Basic, Intermediate, Advanced Digital Skills and Public Sector workforce Digital Skills.
A meeting convened by the ICT Authority in collaboration with the British Council, UKAid, education institutions and development partners, brought together over 200 experts who sought to discuss the curricula and consolidate the feedback ahead of the official launch.
The final approved curricula target to train 20 million Kenyans by 2030 to bridge the country’s digital divide and boost the country’s digital economy.
The curriculum is focused on addressing digital skills gaps, employment and business opportunities. In addition, it intends to enhance Kenyan Citizens’ competencies in effectively participating in the Digital Economy.
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Speaking at the workshop, Stanley Kamanguya, CEO, ICT Authority called for more partnerships and noted that the curriculum will help in preparing a labour force that is ready for the digital economy.
He said, “We have called our colleagues in the academia, private sector and development partners together so that we can come up with a comprehensive curriculum that addresses the basic needs of digital skills. We have looked at the entire value chain of the education sector so that we have a digital skills curriculum for students in primary school all the way up to the colleges and universities.”
He further added, “We cannot work on a digital economy but the labour force has no skills for the industry. We are working on two things: first, how we develop the curriculum for various people we want to train and the second is to agree on how we will implement the program between the educational institutions, government institutions and other institutions using the available resources.”
Charles Juma, Digital Access Programme Manager and Adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), UK Aid noted their commitment to support the curriculum development for unified, standard programs that will make the program a success. He further added that the development would create a unique and professionally certified curriculum used by everyone.
Gladys Gatiba, Project Manager, Skills for Inclusive Digital Participation (SIDP) Project at the British Council, that the workshop was timely and important to drive the conversation on digital skills which forms part of their focus areas in the partnership with the Kenya government. She said, “This workshop is timely and we shall be seeking to collaborate and drive the agenda of developing the digital skills curriculum which is important in the country’s digital economy agenda.”
