The Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, Ms Aurelie ADAM SOULE ZOUMAROU, launched on Thursday 7 October 2021 the first cohort of the LeARN programme (Levier d'Apprentissage pour la Reconversion dans le Numérique, a lever for learning and retraining in digital careers). She was accompanied by her colleague Kouaro Yves CHABI, Minister of Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education.
The Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, Ms Aurelie ADAM SOULE ZOUMAROU, launched on Thursday 7 October 2021 the first cohort of the LeARN programme (Levier d'Apprentissage pour la Reconversion dans le Numérique, a lever for learning and retraining in digital careers). She was accompanied by her colleague Kouaro Yves CHABI, Minister of Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education.
Initiated by the Government of the Republic of Benin and implemented by the Digital Entrepreneurship Support Fund (FAEN) of the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, the LeARN programme aims to offer young Beninese people, recruited from across the national territory, training scholarships in the digital field every year. Each year it will welcome motivated young people aged 18 to 35 who are passionate about digital technology. For 2021, fifty (50) young Beninese people were recruited from across the country (out of more than 18,000 applications received) to benefit from this programme, which prepares them for careers as web or mobile application developers, after a transparent and rigorous three-stage selection process:
- Pre-selection via an online form;
- An online test of the candidates' personality and cognitive abilities;
- An in-person interview and assessment.
“LeARN is a programme with a strong social purpose, initiated by the Government of the Republic of Benin to promote and facilitate the professional integration or retraining of young people in the digital and digitalisation sector,” stressed the Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, Ms Aurelie ADAM SOULE ZOUMAROU. Indeed, of the 50 trainees selected from all the country's departments, 50% lived neither in Cotonou nor in the other municipalities of Greater Nokoué before recruitment, and 30% are women. The group also includes early-career professionals who are at last seeing their plans to retrain in digital technology come true, without having to go into debt.
For six months, the 50 trainees will receive intensive training in computer coding. After an English refresher course, the planned teaching will enable them to master full-stack or front-end development. This training aims to turn the learners into specialists able to develop mobile applications or web platforms that serve the digital transformation of businesses and institutions. After congratulating them on their selection for the LeARN programme, the Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation and the Minister of Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education called on the trainees to show discipline, rigour, commitment and a sense of duty. Finally, they thanked the various partners supporting this government initiative through logistical or material support for the learners.