Equipping government employees through digital skills

A total of 784 civil servants have successfully completed a digital competency training organized by China’s tech giant Huawei in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of ICT. Among those who graduated are 514 non-technical staff and 270 technical members of staff drawn from 100 public sector organizations including county governments, parastatals, and other state agencies.

The awards ceremony was graced by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng, and Huawei Kenya CEO, Will Meng.

Mucheru would reiterate the importance of investing in human capital and partnering with those at the forefront of providing innovative technologies. On account of this, he commended Huawei especially for its contribution to the development of the country’s ICT infrastructure as well as its ICT empowerment programmes.

“I wish to thank Huawei for working closely with the Ministry in developing this training program and for the many other projects we continue to collaborate in. The need for technology is really growing in the country and in the region,” he said

The minister stressed that the partnership with Huawei will ensure that the government will be able to deliver its promises not only to the citizenry but also to the business community, hence aiding the realization of the growth needed.

“We really hope that we continue to collaborate and work together with Huawei technologies and we look forward to a great future together.” Remarked Mucheru

The capacity building training was categorized into two cohorts, covering the technical and non-technical training. The technical training is aimed at improving the participants’ knowledge on the latest cutting-edge technologies.

On the other hand, the non-technical training focused on basic knowledge on ICT transformation, cybersecurity, and information security. Each trainee was required to complete coursework over a period of one week.

“The country must take advantage of emerging technologies such as AI, distributed ledgers, cloud infrastructure, robotics, 5G, and the internet of things to spur the socio-economic growth of our country.” The CS said

It is at this point that Mucheru highlighted the country’s digital economy strategy where skills and values are a critical pillar. He said capacity building remains a priority, and noted that increased connectivity will help facilitate more online training to staff from all over the country.

“We are providing skills and knowledge to ensure public servants and citizens can be secure online, understand the latest ICT trends, championing for the roll-out of more e-government solutions and learn about how to use emerging technologies.” He said

He added, “as a government, we recognize that in addition to infrastructure development and maintenance, the development of skills for our citizens is of utmost importance and especially those of public servants.”

Huawei Kenya CEO, Mr. Will Meng noted that the civil servants training was one of the aspects of a multi-pronged capacity building partnership between the company and the Ministry of ICT even as he undertook to continue to expand the program.

“Through the partnership, we believe that we can make Kenya not only a leader in Africa but globally. This, along with good ICT infrastructure and skills, can create jobs and provide efficient public services for every Kenyan citizen.” Will said

He said the Chinese firm remains committed to building a healthy ICT talent ecosystem, promoting digital skills, contributing to the success of the ICT industry whilst enabling more people to benefit from the digital world.

Other training programs rolled out by the company and which have benefitted tens of thousands of participants over the years include support for the Ministry of ICT’s Ajira program and Presidential Digital Talent Program as well as the Huawei ICT Academy, Huawei ICT Competition, Seeds for the future Program, and Digitruck programme. Huawei also organizes frequent Job Fairs and runs a Graduate Trainee Programme.

Certificates and trophies were awarded to trainees who showcased overall exemplary performance during the training. Lily Mwendwa, an Assistant ICT Officer at the ICT Authority claimed 1^st place award for the technical training, and Bernard Munyiri Matu, a Senior ICT Officer at Laikipia County Government, claimed 1^st place for the non-technical training.

In his speech Bernard noted that “the future of Kenya looks bright now that we have a threshold on what is E-government and cybersecurity basis thanks to Huawei talent academy and the whole Huawei fraternity at large.”