CODERS4AFRICA (C4A) Recognized by Google’s RISE Awards
Now in its fifth year, the Google RISE Awards supports organizations that engage girls and underrepresented students in extracurricular computer science programs. The program provides funding and expertise to organizations that provide extracurricular CS education or work to increase interest in CS for students and their parents with an emphasis on groups with traditionally low access to technology in education. RISE Awards began in 2010 (2014 is the fifth year of the RISE Awards) This year $1.5 million was contributed to 42 organizations in 19 countries.
C4A provides young African coders with infrastructure, logistics, jobs and a gateway to high quality practical training in technologies and platforms that currently dominate the software development industry. C4A has developed a virtual network of 1300+ coders from 25 countries who share knowledge.
In 2012, C4A launched its signature Practical Project Based Training (PPBT). Unlike traditional software development training practices, the program focuses on specific technologies in web/mobile, soft business skills, and software development patterns while keeping the African context in mind. Software developers are taught the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) principles and how to understand and translate technical writing to effectively communicate with other developers, engineers, and clients. Trainees work on real projects for real clients while receiving a fundamental training in mobile/web application development. Upon completion of each training session, products are delivered to their respective clients who in turn can choose to hire or contract the developers to implement more features or maintain products.
This shifts the focus of ICT initiatives from programmers focusing on products for consumer markets to programmers focusing on serving client needs. This business-oriented approach is designed to open new markets for outsourcing activities in Africa while creating a workforce that
can build technical solutions to local problems.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt believes “for most people on Earth, the digital revolution hasn’t even started yet. Within the next 10 years, all that will change. Let’s get the world coding!” “We know technology has the power to change the world for the better and Google has made it a priority to inspire young people to not just use technology, but to create it,” Schmidt said.