Government, Huawei in landmark deal to train 20,000 ICT officers

NAIROBI, Kenya March 25-The government of Kenya, led by the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs is set to ramp up the level of technological skill capacity among its ICT workforce in a new deal where 20,000 officers will be trained.

In the agreement unveiled Friday between Cabinet Secretary for ICT and Youth Affairs Hon. Joe Mucheru and Huawei Kenya Chief Executive Officer Will Meng, Huawei Kenya Engineering Training Academy has become an authorized training center for ICT skills.

The officers, professionals and students will be taken through a comprehensive training program in line with the progressive digitization and digitalization of government services.

“As a Ministry we appreciate the commitment and support provided by Huawei not only in contributing to developing Kenya’s ICT infrastructure but also in elevating ICT skills across various levels. This new program is akin to the software development part of ICT capacity building and is expected to take three years,” said Mucheru.

He explained that it followed the government’s commitment to increase the number of services that Kenyans can access online in a bid to ease public services and information provision.

Mucheru noted that it is grounded on findings from the ICT Authority’s ‘Talent Cultivation for Kenya’s Digital Economy’ White Paper released in November 2021 which reported that 55 per cent of jobs in Kenya by 2030 will require digital skills and that the country’s digital economy is expected to generate 9.24 per cent of the total GDP by 2025.

“Combining the capabilities of the private sector with those of the public sector has proven to be a successful approach to helping unlock the country’s potential and boost growth. We believe that providing training to public officers in the use of technology is essential in enforcing many small improvements that have substantial impacts therefore unlocking the potential of the government”, said Meng.

The collaboration agreement will see the two organizations partner over the next three years to scale up ICT capabilities countrywide as government services increasingly go online and more Kenyans embrace digital connectivity.