The International Finance Corporation projects that over 230 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030. In light of this, the ‘Skills 4 Success’ programme aims to provide lecturers from colleges of education and student teachers with the knowledge and skills to improve digital literacy and factual writing skills.

The knowledge and skills acquired by lecturers of the colleges of education to teach students is expected to guide learners between the ages of 11and 16 through the ever changing digital landscape.

Speaking to Joy Business at the fourth workshop, Foluke Fadare, Senior Evaluation Advisor in Sub-Saharan Africa for the British Council, expressed hope that the project will equip the youth for future jobs.

“In the long term we want to see young people with the skills embedded in them, when it comes to factual writing and media and information Literacy. This will open doors for them in professions like journalism, in areas where you need the skills to get better jobs and they are strongly digitally oriented.”

“We believe that once we have this, it will influence the systems around them, their personal life systems, and their economic opportunities because they have stronger skills.”  She added.

The programme, which is spearheaded by the British Council with support from the Wikimedia Foundation hopes to improve digital literacy by incorporating these skills into lessons across the Ghanaian curriculum.

Chikodi Onyemerela, Programmes Director at the British Council, noted that the programme was carefully tailored to suit the Ghanaian education system.

“We engaged the government through the respective ministries to identify the needs and designed a programme to satisfy them. We hold discussions with ministries, ministers, and, of course, government institutions such as the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and National Association Graduate RAT about the curriculum needs, and we build a programme to meet them.” 

Skills for Success has potential for scaling in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa in the future.