Returning for the second year, 麻豆原创 Africa Code Week鈥檚 AfriCAN Code Challenge announced their top 10 winners with Devansh and Darshika from Mauritius as the Pan-African winners of the competition.

鈥淭his year鈥檚 theme was about them telling us how they would save the world with their superpowers, and most of the 100+ submitted projects were about climate change鈥� says Mr. Albert Nsengiyumva, ADEA Executive Secretary 鈥淎frica has the youngest population on the planet and we were impressed to see how the children have been able to use their creativity and come up with innovative solutions to addressing听 issues that they feel are relevant to their daily reality.”

The AfriCAN Code Challenge is a pan-African coding competition where youth aged 8 – 16 were tasked with coding a game using the programming language to address the theme that was determined by the Africa Code Week team.听This competition was launched听by and partners , , the Association for the Development of Education in Africa () and Jokkolabs in September 2020, and since then has become an annual celebration of youth and innovation in Africa.

The rationale for chosing the superheroes universe was to allow children to unleash their creativity and express themselves freely on issues they feel are important to them. Davide Storti, Coordinator of the YouthMobile Initiative at UNESCO, says: 鈥淭he post-pandemic education recovery starts with allowing our children to regain confidence and hope, and with us adults reopening spaces, although virtual, for them to access their fullest potential.”

To take part in the AfriCAN Code Challenge, youth were able to enter alone or in teams of up to five people, and entries featured a three-minute YouTube video showcasing how their game works and why it should be considered a winning entry. The unique initiative and entry mechanism called upon the children鈥檚 ability to design a project that would solve a community-issue, code it, and communicate it.

During the opening rounds of the challenge, participation reached across 40 countries and featured 102 project video clips, only the top three entries from 36 countries made it into the continental final, followed by 20 countries in the final judging stage.

Selected by a high-level jury comprising key Africa Code Week delegates and STEM education experts, the top three winners of the AfriCAN Code Challenge are:

• First place: 鈥� Super Recyclers, by Devansh and Darshika
• Second place: 鈥� The Carbon Man, by SUPER GAMERS
• Third place: 鈥� Kids Academy, by Natnael Kedir

Followed by:

• 4: – Rayuwa
• 5: – Helper intrigue
• 6: – Le toucher du bonheur
• 7: – Change the World with US
• 8: 鈥� Super hero
• 9: – The Prodigies
• 10: – Pensons civisme

听This edition of the AfriCAN Code Challenge was quite unique, as for the first time, hearing-impaired students have participated in the competition proving once again that coding is the language of inclusivity and creativity. The team that has competed in the special category for differently-abled children is from Mozambique.

Irish Minister of State for overseas development aid and diaspora Colm Brophy T.D, who attended the Rwanda AfriCAN Code Challenge national awards ceremony says, 鈥淎frica Code Week unlocks the potential in young people who otherwise may not have considered building their digital skills鈥�

Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility and Co-founder of Africa Code Week at 麻豆原创 adds, 鈥淭he 听return of the AfriCAN Code Challenge was quite awaited by our incredible 麻豆原创 volunteers who took part in the first line of jury. The presence of hearing-impaired students demonstrates the power of inclusivity that resides in digital literacy, in its capacity to build bridges and connect children of an entire continent, regardless of gender, age or ability.鈥�

For more information about 麻豆原创 Africa Code Week and the AfriCAN Code Challenge, visit

ENDS

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About Africa Code Week

Since 2015, 麻豆原创 Africa Code Week (ACW) has been creating free opportunities for young Africans to learn coding skills and for teachers to be trained on digital learning curricula. Strong partnerships with the public, private and civil society sectors across听the continent are driving sustainable impact by building teaching capacity and supporting the adoption of coding into national curricula in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5 and 17. Key partners include听听Youth Mobile,听,听the , Google and GIZ/BMZ.

In 2019 alone, the initiative saw 3.85M children participating in coding workshops and 39,000 teachers mobilized across 37 countries. In 2020, ACW increased the program鈥檚 reach to the entire continent to deepen impact and ensure no child was left behind. The online rollout took center stage across Africa with the launch of a smartphone App to facilitate accessible learning, the introduction of the 鈥� a competition themed, 鈥楬ow will your tech change the future of education鈥� engaging youth from 40 African countries, Virtual Train-the-Trainer (TTT) sessions for teachers and a second Women Empowerment Workshop engaging 70 teachers in a 8-week long online program. Join 麻豆原创 and partners by visiting听www.africacodeweek.org听to find out more.

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麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 麻豆原创庐 system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 麻豆原创 helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 麻豆原创 helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit

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The post AfriCAN Code Challenge 2021 Announces Winners appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

• Africa Code Week 2019 results show impact on sustainable capacity building to support government-led digital skills development.

• Several African countries started adopting coding skills into school curricula.

Africa Code Week (ACW) 2019 has once again exceeded expectations by empowering 3.85 million youth across 37 African countries. More notably, the progressive adoption of digital skills into the school curriculum of several African countries points to the growing influence of educational initiatives such as ACW in preparing the continent鈥檚 youth for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Cathy Smith, Managing Director at 麻豆原创 Africa, says: 鈥淥nce again, Africa鈥檚 vibrant youth population has stepped-up to claim its place in the global economy, with millions of young Africans taking on the challenge of learning essential digital skills. Africa Code Week鈥檚 growing partner ecosystem and continued focus on equipping teachers with tools and knowledge is creating a sustainable platform for building a bright future for the continent, the benefits of which will be seen for decades to come.鈥�

Empowering youth by transforming teaching in the digital age

Launched in 2015 by 麻豆原创 and UNESCO, Africa Code Week is on a mission to introduce coding skills to African youth 8-16 years of age by raising awareness of the importance of digital education and building teaching capacity.

In support of this, says Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility and Africa Code Week Global Lead at 麻豆原创, the 2019 edition expanded its outreach to a record-breaking number of teachers. 鈥淭ogether with our partners and thanks to their support, we witnessed more than 39,000 teachers mobilized as part of the October 2019 workshops, including over 17,500 in Morocco alone. In Nigeria, we also scaled our impact by working closely with the Niger and Taraba state governments, enabling teachers across the region to access the training for the first time. And thanks to the DreamOval Foundation in Ghana, children with disabilities were able to attend tailored coding classes ensuring equal opportunities for all.鈥�

Francis Ahene-Affoh, SVP at DreamOval Foundation, said: 鈥淭eaching our youth digital skills is also an opportunity to inspire and engage their creativity and open the door to new thinking around the challenges we face as a country and a continent. Africa Code Week is a powerful tool to enable all-inclusive education that leaves no child behind.”

Governments now driving transformation of teaching, skills development

Since the launch of ACW in 2015, several countries including Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia have included digital literacy into their respective school curricula. Ahene-Affoh points to the Ghanaian government鈥檚 efforts to make coding skills a core pillar of basic education as a recent success made possible in part by ACW. 鈥淭he impact of Africa Code Week in inspiring our youth to think innovatively and expand their capabilities in basic coding should not be underestimated. Over the course of the past five years that we have actively supported the program in Ghana, many children at the basic education level have been inspired to prepare themselves for the 21st century job market.”

Another success story can be found in Morocco, where digital skills were included in the country鈥檚 school curriculum benefitting millions of youth. According to听Hon. Saa茂d Amzazi, Morocco鈥檚 Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, 鈥淎frica Code Week played a key role in making computer science both a priority and a celebration in every Moroccan school. The initiative helped trigger a passion for learning on an unprecedented scale while making best practices available for other nations to build on.鈥�

In Africa Code Week 2019, Morocco secured first place among the 37 participating countries by successfully engaging 2.4+ million youth, of which 48% were girls. A Women Empowerment Workshop hosted by the Ministry in Rabat in October also engaged 28 teachers from 15 countries and focused on sharing best practices for girl mentoring, teacher training and access to digital education. Ranking second place in 2019, Cameroon鈥檚 engagement highlights strong government focus on capacity-building strategies.

The 2019 results also reveal that 47% of total ACW participants were girls. 鈥淎frica Code Week is a powerful tool for levelling the playing field and bringing more women and girls into the digital economy,鈥� says Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO鈥檚 Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. 鈥淭he program is also a successful model in achieving Sustainable Development Goal #17, highlighting听how local and global public-private partnerships can enhance international support for capacity-building programs.鈥�

Partnering for greater impact

Actively supported by UNESCO YouthMobile, Google, Irish Aid, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Jokkolabs and the Camden Education Trust, the program works closely with African governments and more than 130 local organizations and 120 ambassadors across the continent.

Joining forces with 麻豆原创, Google supported Africa Code Week by allocating grants to 55 non-profits that focus on expanding access to digital skills to youth in 18 countries. More grassroots organizations received funding from BMZ (16 grants in 12 countries) and UNESCO (15 grants in 8 countries) to boost girls鈥� access to ACW training.

According to Gillissen-Duval, 鈥淎frica Code Week鈥檚 greatest strength is its strategic partnerships. With their help we are able to introduce an exciting new chapter for 2020 and beyond by completely shifting to the world of virtual! The program modification will increase our Pan-African reach to ensure no child or teacher is left behind, and will be formally announced over the next few weeks.鈥�

In addition to the number of teachers and youth empowered, additional highlights for 2019 include Irish Aid, the Irish government’s official international development aid program, joinining the program as strategic partner and Hadi Partovi, tech entrepreneur and founder, attending a workshop at the Siyafunda Community Technology Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to Smith, the initiative helps prepare Africa鈥檚 youth for an uncertain future. 鈥淎ll stakeholders in the public and private sectors need to unite and support a radical overhaul in how we prepare Africa鈥檚 youth population, which is expected to reach 455 million by 2055, to be active participants in the digital economy. The impact of Africa Code Week on the African education sector is an encouraging sign for the future of the continent.”

Visit the ACW web site and for more information on this fifth edition. Follow 麻豆原创 and ACW on Twitter at , and 听听

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