UN and HP bring technology training to youth in Africa and Middle East

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the technology company HP announced today the opening of 20 training centres in Africa and the Middle East to expand youth entrepreneurship and information technology education.

The new centres, in Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, brings to 33 the number of centres in ten countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The HP Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT programme (GET-IT) provides training to unemployed youth and graduates between the ages of 16 and 25, and helps potential entrepreneurs acquire IT skills with the aim of becoming better placed to create and run their own businesses, UNIDO said. GET-IT courses teach practical IT solutions for daily business challenges in finance, management, marketing and technology management.

“The UNIDO-HP partnership aims at addressing the high level of unemployment among young people in developing countries by integrating them into the labour market through successful entrepreneurship,” said Kandeh K. Yumkella, UNIDO Director-General.

Through its field office network in Africa and the Middle East, UNIDO identifies non-profit organizations eligible to become GET-IT partners and monitors the activities of these partners to ensure the sustainability of the programme, UNIDO said.

UNIDO, with 173 Member States, is a specialised agency of the UN system working towards improving the quality of life of the world’s poor by helping countries achieve sustainable industrial development.