atingi collaborates with Orange Digital Centre to launch innovative Training of Trainers (ToT) Pilot Program for future course managers in Cameroon

Learning with atingi at a university is becoming reality in Cameroon! A pilot is launched in the winter semester 2023 at the ODC Club at the University of Yaoundé II with the campus located in Yaoundé’s suburb Soa. The core objective of this pilot is to educate young students, with a focus on women, on the importance of digital transformation and preparing them for a future career in Cameroons’ tech ecosystem. The pilot is especially targeting young students from programmes that are not situated in the digital sector, creating a space to get familiar with unfamiliar topics such as Blockchain or IVR, and learn together with their peers about the diverse opportunities in the digital sector, being trained along the e-learning course “Women going Digital”. This course is gender transformative and contains different modules around the topic of digital transformation. It was developed by Business Scouts for Development, a GIZ global program.

Over the course of a two month, 30 students from the Yaoundé II University will learn together about digital skills and the digital market in Cameroon using a blended learning approach. The pilot will be co-facilitated by overall four trainers, who will not only enable the students to use atingi for self-paced learning, but also integrate examples from the vivid digital market in Cameroon in the programme, such as the digital hub CAYSTI, Orange and its Fab Labs, or the GIZ blockchain project Our Village. All trainers participated in a pilot Training of Trainers (ToT) for (future) course managers in cooperation with the Orange Digital Centre (ODC) in Cameroon. Using a blended learning approach, the participants were trained along the e-learning course “Women going Digital”.  Using the knowledge obtained in the ToT, different methods and approaches for co-facilitation will be applied during the pilot. To create an interactive learning environment many practical examples and round tables with experts from the digital sector in Cameroon will be organised, allowing the students to connect with key actors, having a glimpse into the world of digital practitioners, and asking questions about personal experiences in the digital sector and how to start their own journey.

Unique about this pilot is the cooperation between Orange, the regional GIZ project Business Scouts for Development, and atingi. For example, two young women, who were trained through the Business Scouts for Development project, also using the course “Women going Digital”, are now trainers themselves and use their newly gained skills to educate others about the opportunities in the digital sector in Cameroon. Already a true testimonial to the success of the course! Further, beyond facilitating the training in the Orange Digital Club at the Yaoundé II University, Orange will be scaling this training to all other Orange Digital Clubs in the country, using the lessons learnt from this pilot. This will enable not only university students, but also other young people, especially young women, in structural week and less favoured regions of the country to gain digital skills and find their way towards a future career in Cameroons’ tech ecosystem.