PARIS, France — October 7, 2019 — A delegation of African ambassadors, Permanent Delegates to UNESCO, UNESCO officials and SAP executives met in Paris today to discuss partnership opportunities for greater digital skills development among African and French youth. Forming part of the annual World Teacher’s Day celebrations, which is held on October 5th each year, the meeting was held in the VIP Lounge of the SAP Tower in Levallois-Perret.
On the agenda: a discussion over how African countries can foster more public-private partnerships to scale the impact of Africa Code Week and bring greater numbers of youth into the digital fold. Launched and led by SAP in close partnership with UNESCO YouthMobile and a fast-growing network of like-minded partners, Africa Code Week is a digital skills development initiative that takes place every year in October and has benefitted more than 4.1 million African youth across 37 countries since 2015.
According to Liam Ryan, SAP Ireland Managing Director & President of the CSR EMEA Governance Committee, the drive for digital skills development is now being supported by a continent-wide family of like-minded partners. “Between 15 and 20 million increasingly well-educated young people are due to join the African workforce every year over the next thirty years. Equipping them with digital skills and inspiring them to pursue the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be fundamental not only to the success and growth of economies in Africa, but across Europe and the world. We welcome our distinguished guests from the public and private sectors and look forward to a close and successful working partnership during this year’s Africa Code Week activities.”
Digital skills take centre stage
In 2018, the French government launched a new digital inclusion strategy to give the 6.7 million French citizens that don’t yet use the internet improved access to digital skills and infrastructure. According to research by Human Resources firm Randstat, one in five French people remain uncomfortable with digital technology, and two-thirds of the working population do not feel the urgent need to be trained in technology.
Access to skilled workers in France and across the European Union has also become a dominating issue. According to estimates by the European Commission, the ICT sector in the EU could face a skills shortage totaling 756 000 unfilled positions by next year. The skills shortage is only one side of the challenge: the World Economic Forum believes more than half of all workers globally will need to be reskilled within the next three years as digital technologies upend industries and create the need for entirely new types of jobs.
Engaging Africa’s large talent pool
France’s history is inextricably linked to the African continent, and it remains one of its most important trade partners. According to 2015 data, 619 000 nationals of African states legally reside in France, mostly from countries such as Mali, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A further three million French nationals of sub-Saharan African origin live in France.
Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General for Communications and Information at UNESCO, said it’s critical that all youth share in the opportunities presented by the 21st century digital economy. “Digital skills are the ticket to greater economic participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and an essential component to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, especially as it relates to Education (Goal #4). As we celebrate World Teacher’s Day and observe the start of this year’s Africa Code Week, we wish all our teachers, partners, volunteers and aspiring coders all the best.”
At the conclusion of the discussions, delegates attended a coding workshop with children to see first-hand the ease at which basic coding skills can be learned and what opportunities Africa Code Week creates for greater digital skills development at a mass scale.
Creating lasting impact through skills development and capacity building
On a mission to power opportunity for all of Africa’s youth through digital inclusion, Africa Code Week has created a lasting positive contribution across the continent. Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility and Africa Code Week Global Lead at SAP, said: “In line with our commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Africa Code Week is one example of how we strive for inclusive education (Goal #4), support gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (Goal #5) and build strong partnerships with public and private sector organisations (Goal #17). As we enter this year’s Africa Code Week activities, our aim is to reach 1.5 million African youth while building improved local training capacity. We thank our public and private sector partners in Africa and France for their valuable contribution to the future of the world’s most youthful continent.”
Africa Code Week is taking place in 37 African countries throughout the month of October. For a full schedule of activities, please visit www.africacodeweek.org
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Africa Code Week (ACW)
Spearheaded in 2015 by SAP’s EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility department as part of its social investments to drive sustainable growth in Africa, Africa Code Week is instilling digital literacy and coding skills in the young generation, to drive sustainable learning impact across Africa. Strong partnerships with the public, private and non-profit sectors are the driving force behind the initiative’s ability to drive sustainable learning impact in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Africa Code Week has benefitted over 4 million young Africans so far and is now actively supported by UNESCO YouthMobile, BMZ, Google, Irish Aid and over 130 partners and 120 ambassadors across the continent. SAP also works closely with UNESCO to increase girl participation in ACW workshops. The fifth edition of ACW will see thousands of free coding workshops organised for 1.5 million youth across 37 countries in October 2019, with a strong focus on girl empowerment and community capacity building.
Join SAP and partners by visiting www.africacodeweek.org to find out more.
About SAP
As the cloud company powered by SAP HANA®, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 437,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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