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Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders:

by CamaraComputer maintenanceICTKenyaSustainability & Green ICTTanzaniaYouth Skills & Development

Celebrating World Youth Skills Day with Camara Education

World Youth Skills Day was founded to celebrate the importance of providing young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. At Camara, we believe that equipping youth with digital skills and knowledge is central to unlocking their full potential and driving positive change in their communities.  It is at the heart of everything we do, but exemplified in particular by two programmes: our internships in Kenya, and our Youth Digital Skills course in Tanzania.

Internships in Kenya

Camara Kenya’s Internship programme is a 3-month course designed to equip participants with hands-on ICT skills in a real- world work environment. The initiative attracts students in various IT disciplines from universities and colleges across the country. The participants are based in our Mombasa Hub for day-to-day training and also undertake fieldwork activities in our local schools. The programme has supported almost 600 students to date, 40 of them in 2023.

 By the end of the course, students have mastered vital skills including network setup and configuration, software installation & administration, and PC/laptop troubleshooting and repair.  They are also taught soft skills such as marketing and how to conduct themselves in the workplace. These in-demand techniques place them ahead of the competition in the job market and help them explore opportunities for self-employment.

Tanzania – YDS

Camara Tanzania recently completed a successful pilot of its Youth Digital Skills As a result, 12 youths have been equipped with the essential digital skills needed in today’s workplace. The programme offered new opportunities for individuals in Dar es Salaam who had previously faced challenges in accessing education or employment.

Among the participants, six have already secured direct employment opportunities with national companies, while others have embraced freelancing as a livelihood. We are thrilled with the outcome of this pilot project and hope to roll out an even better version in the future, based on what we have learnt.

Graduate Testimonies

21-year-old Janeth George successfully completed the YDS course in Tanzania, and it has literally changed her life:

“Thanks to the Youth Digital Skills Program, I am now employed by Dospects Studio. My family believed in marriage, and I struggled to break free from that expectation due to financial dependence on them. But now, after completing the programme, I have gained employable skills and managed to get work. Many thanks to Camara Education, Tanzania.”

Janeth George (on left)
Everlyne Mkabili

Everlyne Mkabili is currently interning with Camara Kenya:

“I am  a student from Kenya Coast National Polytechnic pursuing a Diploma in Information Communication Technology. I am currently enrolled as an intern at Camara Education Kenya, a charity that provides computers, teacher training, and innovative learning programs to schools across Africa.

I came to know Camara through a teacher at Ribe Girl’s High School – I received three offers of attachments but the teacher advised me to select Camara since it was the best.

From the very start of the attachment, the learning environment has been friendly and understanding and the skills I have learned so far are top-notch. Among other things, I have learned how to dismantle and assemble all the external and internal parts of a PC; how to install various operating systems to different PCs; how to troubleshoot by running diagnostics; and how to make storage devices bootable.

With these few but important skills, I have been able to help a computer teacher at Ribe Girls’ High School solve a problem with one of his computers that had stopped working (the computer was not powering on, and if it was powering on, there was no display). I gave a solution to this scenario by asking him to remove the PC RAM sticks and clean them, as well as the RAM slots. I also asked him to check the power cable supplying power to the motherboard. After a few minutes, I received feedback from the same teacher, who happily explained to me that the directives I gave him worked successfully.

 As we continue with this program, my hope is to gain more skills so that I can use them to build my future career as an IT Support Specialist.”                    

Irene Gabriel is a Graphic Design graduate of the YDS Program in Tanzania. She said:

“Before starting the training, I aspired to be a soldier, but that path wasn’t accessible. This program became a way for me to acquire additional skills. Now, my ambition is to excel as a graphics designer, leveraging the skills I’ve obtained.”

Irene Gabriel
Kelvin Kirimi Mutuma

Kelvin Kirimi Mutuma, a former student at the Star Institute of Professionals, completed Camara Kenya’s internship programme in 2022 and is currently working at Erido Computer Solutions in Mombasa. He said:

“I was born and raised in the outskirts of Mombasa, in a place called Meru, 27 years ago. Growing up in a humble background, my parents did just enough to provide shelter and basic education. It never crossed my mind that one day I would be among the best technicians in the city.

My journey as a technician started in 2022 after completing my Diploma in ICT and CISCO Networking course at Star Institute of Professionals. At the end of my course, I heard about Internship programs at Camara Education Kenya and decided to join. Looking back, I am glad I made the decision – this is where I expanded my knowledge base and garnered experience, which has proved to be invaluable. The team of experts at Camara Kenya is more than willing to help young men and women cross the gap between school graduation and the job market.

Camara Education Kenya equips interns with skills to navigate the job market.  While interning at Camara, I had the opportunity to put into practice what I had learned in school. I did all this without the fear of making mistakes since the experts at Camara encouraged us not to fear mistakes but instead to embrace and learn from them. The trainers at Camara allowed us to tag along for field work. The number of trips I made to schools within Mombasa County for computer maintenance and networking is countless. This exposure has jumpstarted my career as a networking and computer technician at Erido Computer Solutions.

At Erido, I have undertaken different roles including computer repair, CCTV installation and maintenance, as well as being a sales agent. All this is a result of the interpersonal skills I gained from Camara Education Kenya, which have enabled me to navigate the job market efficiently.

Today, I pride myself on being among the best computer and networking technicians, courtesy of Camara Education Kenya. Thank you, Camara, for the opportunity to train with you and help kickstart my career.”

STUDENT TESTIMONIES

by CamaraYouth Skills & Development

Sometimes it is good to remind ourselves why we do the work we do, so here are some stories from users of our ICT club at Ganze Girls School in Ganza, southern Kenya.

“I would like to thank STEM STEPS with all my heart for the impact you have made in my life and the lives of all the other girls in my school. Today, I am a member of the school ICT club to mould me through its quality education and also through the well-designed activities. My gratitude is extended to my ICT teacher and the club patron, Mwanahamisi Kahindi who taught us wholeheartedly and spent many hours helping us to gel into the ICT Club. I am currently a form 4 student having a dream to become a Database Analyst. I would not be able to say this if it were not for the seed patiently sown in me, which is already bearing fruit. Thank you for your love and support Camara Education and Technologies.”

Jane Dzidze, ICT Club member

“When I joined the ICT club, I was kind of scared about technology because I thought I would mess up and look dumb. My teacher developed an Individualised Technology Education Plan which outlined some goals for me. We started with easy technologies, added some frequencies that I would use and now I am using all the technology like all the other students.  I’m not scared of learning new things anymore and the skills and technologies I’m learning are looking awesome on my Studies. Thank you Camara and Dell for the positive futures empowerment for upgrading the lab and supporting the clubs”

“I get to learn and play using technology everyday! My school is so cool!”
  -Purity Neema age 19

“I taught in a traditional classroom and always tried to use technology. However, the technology and training provided by Camara Education and Dell Technologies improved my teaching skills to align with the technology. At the school, we successfully set up an ICT Club and the computers provided have excellent ICT professional development. Our students have grown academically by working with ICT equipment. The ICT Club continues to grow and succeed in this school. Students can view both online and offline club activities on the computers and I provide them with more stuff for more information and assign them with activities, where I can monitor their progress. The activities give immediate feedback, we take a short review period to make sure all the Club members are mastering the concepts, and then move on to ICT-based learning in individual, small and whole group activities using the information and technology presented.”

ICT teacher and club patron, Mwanahamisi Kahindi
Creative TechFest @ The Foundry 2016-91

Digital and STEM Stars Rising: 300 Young People celebrated at Creative Tech Fest national showcase and awards

by CamaraICTYouth Skills & Development

Creative TechFest @ The Foundry 2016-91National showcase and awards with over 300 young people recognised for their achievements in STEM and Digital Media with a performance by Delorentos.

Creative Tech Fest will play host to 300 young people from youth clubs and schools from all over Ireland as they gather in Google’s state of the art venue, The Foundry, to celebrate their passion for creative and STEM technologies.

Now in it’s fifth year, Creative Tech Fest showcases young people’s achievements in digital media, music, 3D Design, na méain Gaeilge as well as inventive Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) activities.Young people will be at the heart of all the action as they exhibit their own work and take part in interactive workshops – all while being inspired by guest speakers and live performances.

The line up this year includes Eleanor Mannion, multimedia journalist, on the advances in mobile journalism, Sue McGrath from Science2Life and an intimate live performance by Delorentos. A diverse selection of workshops from Google, the Science Gallery and Fíbín, to name but a few, offer young people the opportunity to experience the creative industries first hand.

Eleanor Mannion, speaking ahead of the event said; “I am so excited to speak at Creative Tech Fest especially because I get to meet the next generation of creators, inventors and innovators. Our young people are so inspiring and I know I will learn as much, if not more from them, then they will from me.”

Ciara Beth, a youth participant and one of this year’s co-hosts from Foróige Galway City Youth Café says “TechSpace is a safe space, where I’m free to create media that represents my thoughts and opinions. I’m thrilled to be one of the co-hosts for this years Creative Tech Fest. I’ve attended Tech Test before and the standard of work is always amazing. I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us!!

For the first time this year, young people who are involved in the ambitious new ‘STEM in Youth Work Maker Project’ will have the opportunity to celebrate and showcase their STEM skills at the Creative Tech Fest. The STEM in Youth Work Maker Project, a joining of forces between the National Youth Council of Ireland and Camara Education Ireland, funded by the Science Foundation of Ireland will feature prominently as part of the Creative Tech Fest programme by inspiring the young people to create and invent with confidence and curiosity, and increase engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).

Clár TechSpace, continuing its success and now in it’s second year, will have a strong presence at the event this year with opportunities for young people to take part in Irish language workshops and exhibitions. Young people’s creative technology projects in the Irish language will also feature with support from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Dr. Ruth Freeman, Director of Strategy and Communications, Science Foundation Ireland, said:

“Science Foundation Ireland is pleased to support Creative Tech Fest, as it is great event to showcase young people’s passion, creativity and achievements in digital media, music, 3D design and many more areas of technology. It is through events like this that we introduce young people to the wide-ranging opportunities in the Tech sector and encourage them to consider future careers in STEM.  I want to congratulate all of the young people who participated and the organisers on a fantastic event.”

Mary Cunningham, Director, National Youth Council of Ireland, said:

“The National Youth Council of Ireland is delighted to be involved in this exciting celebration of youth workers and young people who have been taking part in the STEM in Youth Work Maker project. Through the project 112 youth workers have been trained and an estimated 2,000 young people have now had the chance to learn STEM in new and really fun ways, outside of school! We are particularly pleased that young people who previously may have been considered as being less likely to engage with STEM or take up further education and careers in STEM are being reached through this project.”

Pat O’Doherty, Head of ESB, said:

“ESB is delighted to support TechSpace. Here at the Creative Tech Fest, we see the next generation of creators, innovators and problem solvers in action, showcasing the skills that will drive Ireland’s future economy and society. This is a day to celebrate their achievements and fire their imaginations.”

The Importance of Teaching Coding

by CamaraCodingYouth Skills & Development

With the advent of the upcoming Africa Code Week (ACW) which is going to be rolling out across the African continent, we wanted to give you a glimpse of the reasons why Camara Education Ethiopia is keen on its implementation within Ethiopia and how it‘s partnering with ACW to make that a reality and impactful within the learners community in Ethiopia.

According to ACW, the movement to teach coding to young learners started with the idea to bridge the digital skill gap that will be present in the next 25 years within the African continent. This means that as the population growth booms, the digital technical knowhow that these generations have will feature a large gap between those who have access and those who don’t.  This movement thus partnered up with leading technology companies to teach coding to young learners across the African continent on a yearly basis. This is done through the use of open source visual coding software called Scratch that young learners can use to have an understanding of coding and build small applications through it.

As Camara Education Ethiopia is working to improve access to more streamlined education through the use of technology, it was the perfect initiative to be part of.  We, as an organisation, are working on building better stocked and efficient e-learning centers across schools in Ethiopia. Until now, 460,790 learners in 1054 schools across 5 regions were able to take advantage of the integration of technology into the classroom. Overall, 7242 educators and school leaders were able to take part in our capacity building training as part of delivering 25,918 computers into these schools.

Our partnership with ACW started 3 years ago when we were an organising partner for East Africa. We have organised Africa Code Week events in Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. In the last two years, Camara Education was able to train over 25,000 learners across Ethiopia.

This year we are also gearing up to reach more schools and engage more learners across the country and thus expose young learners to coding. Over the next 2 weeks, we will be conducting Teach-the-Trainer sessions for 28 educators from 11 schools in Robe, Bale Zone (Oromia), for 15 educators from 4 schools in Fitche Zone (Oromia), 23 educators from 10 schools in Oromia Special Zone, 21 trainees in 6 schools  in Ensaro Zone (Amhara), 44 educators from 20 schools in Addis Ababa, 43 educators in 20 schools in Silte Zone (SNNPR), 43 educators in 20 schools in Gurage Zone (SNNPR), and 43 educators in 20 schools in Wolayta Zone (SNNPR). In total, we will train 260 trainees in 111 schools.

These trained educators will be conducting their own coding sessions in their respective schools during the actual live continent wide Coding session from October 17 – October 25. During this week, we expect 333 coding sessions in 111 schools through which 50,000 learners will be training in basic coding.

Our activities are already rolling out with our work in training educators across the regions in preparation for the actual Africa Code Week event which will be from October 17 – October 25.

For more information on our related activities within this month check out our social media platforms on Twitter, Vimeo, Instagram and Facebook. For more information on the Africa Code Week check their website here. To check out the software that’s used for teaching coding you can check out their website here which comes bundled with all the computers that Camara Education Ethiopia provides to schools within its intervention areas.      

Kisuani Youth Polytechnic educating thousands with the help of Camara Education Kenya

by CamaraYouth Skills & Development

Kisuani Youth Polytechnic (K.Y.P) was established in 1968 in Majengo, Kenya. K.Y.P has delightedly grown from strength to strength over time and in 1990 it was one of 64 Polytechnics across the country upgraded to offer Artisan courses. Through consistent improvements of its services and skill up-gradation courses, the institute has evolved into a thriving establishment; a statement which would be difficult to utter if it were not for the help of Camara Education Kenya.

As an institute whose vision statement is “To Consistently Offer Better, Relevant, Affordable and Quality Vocational Skills Training to the Community”, K.Y.P has been a grateful receiver of both Camara Kenya’s computers and assistance. Camara has not only been supplying K.Y.P with computers since 2008, the technical team have also been there to offer support and guidance throughout. Ambrose Mwachibua, the ICT instructor at Kisuani Youth Polytechnic, is more than appreciative of Camara’s support; “Camara Kenya have been providing the computers at an affordable rate, so that ICT and E-learning can reach as many people as possible. We are glad that we have good partnership with the Camara organisation”.

A grateful glimpse into Kisuani Youth Polytechnic’s eLearning centre.

At present, K.Y.P have both Kenya National Examination Council Artisan courses and National Industrial Training Authority on offer. With courses such as CCTV Camera Installation and Maintenance, Computer Maintenance and Repair and Computer Studies at hand, Camara’s computers have continuously supported students of K.Y.P on their journey to education.

Kisuani Youth Polytechnic has assisted in helping thousands of students to discover and achieve their aspirations by providing a pathway for them to gain employment. As well as educating young individuals, K.Y.P strives to change the lives of adults looking to engross themselves in education in order to change their current circumstances. With continued guidance from Camara Education Kenya, Kisuani Youth Polytechnic has the opportunity to provide individuals with the chance to better their present and create a promising future through technology enhanced education.

 

K.Y.P blog post image 2
Student’s hard at work in the eLearning centre.