Digital skills: supporting teachers, creating opportunities

It is increasingly important that young people are able to use and work with digital content. Digital literacy is key to participating actively in society, taking advantage of career opportunities and contributing to the stability of the community. Digital skills are crucial – whether this involves basic IT skills, being able to use software or evaluating information and dealing with cybersecurity. Africa’s educational systems, however, are feeling the strain. The number of young people is continuing to grow, and schools are overstretched. Teachers often do not have enough training, and in many regions the digital divide between urban and rural areas is increasing.

African education partners and GIZ are focusing on innovation

In order to close this gap, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH – on behalf of the German Development Ministry (BMZ) – is helping to build digital skills in the education systems of several African countries. In cooperation with education ministries, teachers’ associations and civil society networks, GIZ is supporting further training courses, strategies and platforms that offer solutions.

In Uganda, for example, GIZ and its partners are training around 3,500 teachers in digital classroom methods. Côte d’Ivoire is developing new training formats and digital teaching platforms with GIZ’s assistance. And in Mozambique, a national strategy is being prepared to foster basic digital literacy. In total, GIZ is currently supporting over 20 initiatives in 14 countries. This is transforming digital education from a one-off approach into a systemically anchored solution.

Partnerships with impact

GIZ works with a variety of partners, including the Global Campaign for Education, an international movement of NGOs and trade unions for better education, and the education ministries in Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire. This has led to the formation of a network for digital literacy that is improving education systems in several African countries and paving the way for global partnerships.

Prudence Ntaja, a teacher from Malawi, feels the impacts directly. She uses WhatsApp to send tasks with audio instructions to parents and to support her pupils outside of their lessons. This approach particularly benefits children from households with lower levels of education while strengthening parent participation in the learning process. ‘Digital education is transforming my work and building the self-confidence of my students,’ she says. The impacts extend beyond the African continent. By strengthening educational structures, we are creating opportunities locally – and this is also in the strategic interests of Europe.