Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) is announcing a timely collaboration with IBM to empower young women and men in the Middle East and Africa with the digital skills, workforce readiness proficiencies and business knowledge needed for successful careers, social wellbeing and economic growth.
DOT will work with local organisations to help young people tap into IBM’s free Open P-TECH’s (ptech.org) career readiness curricula. The platform equips learners with competencies in foundational technologies used in all industries, such as AI, cloud computing and cybersecurity, along with professional workplace skills like design thinking, teaming and presentations.
Together, the organisations will aim to reach at least 40,000 young people in eight countries – Jordan, Lebanon, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and Ghana. Seventy percent of the youth will be young women.
The pandemic has laid bare the gaps and inequitable access to the digital literacy, employment and entrepreneurship skills that youth require to innovate, compete for jobs or start businesses in a digital economy. The gender gap is extreme – with women over 50% less likely to be online than men in least developed countries, where 390 million women remain unconnected.
Poised to change this are IBM’s new Open P-TECH digital education platform with its potential to scale within formal and informal education systems, and the support of DOT’s network of young leaders with the facilitation, coaching and peer-to-peer talents that are critical to the effectiveness, application and retention of online learning.