Summarized by AI Model:facebook/bart-large-cnn
The Africa Centre of Competence for Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Skills has been established in Nairobi. The centre aims to equip public sector workers with the digital competencies and creative thinking needed to thrive in a digitalised environment. The Kenyan government has been making a concerted effort to improve the nation's digital environment.By collaborating with Microsoft and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to establish the Africa Centre of Competence for Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Skills, Kenya has made tremendous progress in the field of digital innovation. With an emphasis on improving service delivery via the application of cutting-edge digital and artificial intelligence technologies, this new organisation is well-positioned to develop as a hub for promoting innovation in the public sector. The centre, which is ideally located in Nairobi at the Kenya School of Government, has the potential to revolutionise service delivery throughout Africa, not just in Kenya.
By encouraging digital upskilling in the public sector, the centre hopes to reach and uplift other parts of Africa and catalyse change beyond Kenya’s boundaries. As part of Africa’s larger digital transformation agenda, UNDP has highlighted the center’s mission to equip public sector workers with the digital competencies and creative thinking needed to thrive in a digitalised environment, thereby spurring innovation and enhancing the delivery of public services.
This program aligns with the lofty goal of improving the digital literacy of 300,000 public personnel set forth in the Kenya National Digital Master Plan 2022–2032. It is anticipated that the centre will be essential to reaching this goal. In order to achieve this, the Centre will provide a range of training programs meant to transmit fundamental abilities including systems thinking, strategic foresight, and human-centered problem-solving. These programs are designed to provide public servants the tools they need to anticipate problems early on and find creative solutions.
The center’s operations will be coordinated with regional and national development objectives thanks to the strategic leadership of the Kenyan government. To keep the institute at the forefront of digital and AI breakthroughs, the knowledge and resources of major international technology companies like Microsoft and Google will be utilised. Additionally, the UNDP has acknowledged that the center’s goals are in line with a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as improved education (SDG 4), respectable employment and economic growth (SDG 8), and decreased inequality (SDG 10).
The centre has established a Public Sector Innovation Fund to aid in the further development of the learnt skills’ actual implementation. With the help of microgrants from this fund, public employees will be encouraged to use their newly acquired digital abilities to tackle practical problems in their fields. This program will make it easier to create and apply cutting-edge digital solutions that are especially suited to each sector’s particular requirements.
This development fits into Kenya’s larger pattern of embracing digital development. Microsoft Corporation opened Africa’s first Software Testing Centre in Nairobi in 2018 with the intention of training Kenya’s future engineers and creating over 1,000 jobs for youth. Google opened its first product development centre in Africa in Nairobi in April 2022 with the goal of developing game-changing goods and services for the African market and beyond. Additionally, the Kenyan government has been making a concerted effort to improve the nation’s digital environment. It began a partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in April 2024 to launch a project aimed at creating a comprehensive national AI policy.hy
