- Kenya, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Microsoft, has established the Africa Centre of Competence for Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Skill, which will serve as an incubator for public sector innovation aimed at better service delivery.
- The centre, located at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi, will leverage digital and AI technologies to transform service delivery across Africa.
- It intends to extend the impact beyond Kenya, reaching other regions across the continent to promote transformation through public sector digital upskilling.
“The goal is to equip public sector employees with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in a digital environment, drive innovation, and enhance public service delivery to propel Africa's digital transformation agenda,” UNDP stated.
This initiative aligns with the Kenya National Digital Master Plan 2022-2032 which aims to enhance digital literacy for 300,000 public servants and will be instrumental in reaching this goal.
The centre will provide training courses covering important topics like human-centered problem solving, systems thinking, and strategic foresight, assisting public employees in anticipating future difficulties and developing creative solutions.
The centre will have strategic leadership from the Kenyan government, which will guarantee alignment with regional and national objectives. Meanwhile, global tech giants, including Microsoft and Google, offer advanced expertise and resources to keep the centre at the forefront of digital and AI advancements.
Beyond the digital skills development, UNDP confirmed that the centre's mission also aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including quality education (SDG 4), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and reduced inequalities (SDG 10).
The centre has proposed a Public Sector Innovation Fund, which will provide micro-grants to encourage public servants to apply their newly acquired digital skills to real-world challenges. This fund will enable civil servants to develop and implement innovative digital solutions tailored to the specific challenges of their sectors.
Similar to this development, in 2018, Microsoft Corporation launched Africa’s first Software Testing Centre in Nairobi, aiming to employ over 1,000 youth and transfer knowledge to young engineers in Kenya.
In April 2022, Google opened its first Africa product development centre in Nairobi, to build “transformative” products and services for the African market and the world.
The Kenyan government has also been improving the country's digital space. In April 2024, it partnered with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to launch a project to develop a National Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy.
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