UNSECO And Huawei Mark End Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trainings

The UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa and Huawei Kenya organized a virtual closing ceremony on 18 May 2021, to conclude a series of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology training they had organized in August 2020 and April 2021.

Due to the pandemic, what used to be in-person training was offered virtually, but also because of that, people from different regions could benefit from the AI training. 117 university/college faculty members (including 42 women) from 14 African countries were nominated by the UNESCO National Commissions of their countries in the two batches of UNESCO-Huawei online training on AI Technology.

The ceremony was opened by the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, Ms. Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, alongside the Deputy CEO of Huawei Kenya, Ms. Tao Pan. A presentation of the UNESCO-Huawei AI training program review and the Huawei Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Academy introduction was made by the ICT Academy Manager from Huawei Kenya, Jingwen Xu. Lecturers and trainees gave speeches on their experiences during the training. A virtual distribution of certificates to the trainees also took place to acknowledge their proactive performance in the training, and encourage them to integrate AI into their teaching course for the benefit of students in the African region.

“Over the years, UNESCO has recognized the critical roles that emerging technologies such as AI and ICT could play in reorienting key sectors of the economies of African countries for sustainable development.” ——Ms.  Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, Director of UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa

Ms. Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta expressed her gratitude to Huawei for their collaboration with UNESCO and contributions to enhancing the digital skills of university teachers. She urged all the trainees to explore the possibilities of including lessons learned in their university courses as they return as trainers and also serve as role models for the next generation. She reiterated the commitment of UNESCO to continue the collaboration with Huawei to facilitate human resource development that meets the knowledge, competencies, skills, innovation, and creativity required of today’s digital transformation.

The virtual training provided by Huawei Certified trainers from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and Multi-Media University (MMU), aimed at sharing the application of the different Artificial Intelligence technologies in the different countries.

It was encouraging to note the diverse use cases and scenarios in different contexts presented by colleagues, noted Philip Oyier, A HCIA-AI instructor from JKUAT. “We hope that our colleagues will share the knowledge and skills acquired during the training, open more Huawei ICT Academies that offers practice-oriented learning to students in the African region, and thus build a workforce with the relevant theoretical and practical knowledge and skills to provide solutions to many challenges facing our society,” he added.

“Investing in education is not only our social responsibility but also our business priority to help grow the ICT sector and to help grow the economies of the countries in which we work.” ——Ms. Fiona Pan, the Deputy CEO of Huawei Kenya

In her opening remarks, Ms. Tao Pan underlined that Kenya was the first African country to benefit from Huawei’s AI training. She was happy to see the collaboration with UNESCO giving rise to the training of people outside of Kenya and reaching more than 10 countries in Africa. She acknowledged the Academy Instructors for their time and dedication to the training. She further congratulated all the trainees for the successful completion of training.

The trainees thanked UNESCO and Huawei for the valuable opportunity and pledged to apply the skills and knowledge obtained in fostering digital education in their respective educational institutions.

UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa and Huawei signed an MOU in 2019 to enhance digital skills and the application of AI to contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is an integral part of the program of equaling quality education in Huawei’s digital inclusion initiative TECH4ALL. Additionally, the collaboration would enhance digital skills among teachers through the Huawei Digitruck, seek to organize forums and events to enhance member states’ capacity on the use of AI, promote the adoption of AI and cloud computing in education, and promote the importance of digital skills by engaging with respective stakeholders.