Microsoft and the Centre Africain d'Etudes Sup'erieures en Gestion (CESAG) have entered into a memorandum of understanding to deliver ICT policy training to government employees in West and Central Africa.
CESAG is an institution specialising in the delivery of government-related training and leadership capacity-building across French-speaking Africa.
Microsoft would not disclose the financial investment it is making in the project. The investment is not only monetary; there is also time, in-kind resources and intellectual capacity that the company is investing in the programme, says a Microsoft representative.
While the duration of the Microsoft portion to develop a curriculum and train CESAG staff representatives is six months, it is estimated the project will last up to five years, she says. The final contract term will be determined by CESAG on the basis of need within the region, she adds.
The programme will be based in Senegal, but will be provided to government officials from throughout the West and Central Africa region, the representative says.
Course content
Microsoft has developed a curriculum for the project, which includes modules on privacy and identity management, innovation, intellectual property rights, search and digital archiving.
This will be delivered to CESAG trainers, who will then be certified to deliver the training to government officials.
The African Capacity-Building Foundation (ACBF), which is partnering with Microsoft in this venture, is to undertake an extensive capacity assessment of CESAG to help improve its ability to run the programme. Microsoft will provide an infrastructure optimisation assessment.
ACBF will also solicit funding from its board to support the costs of training government officials who wish to attend the programme, but cannot for financial reasons. "This eliminates the number one barrier to entry," says Microsoft Africa chairman Cheick Diarra.
"According to the World Bank, nearly 50% of all ICT projects worldwide fail and over 30% never even make it off the ground," Diarra says.
He adds that it is vitally important governments be given the necessary knowledge and capacity to make informed decisions about their technology roll-out strategies, as technology has the potential to be an empowering tool for the African continent.
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