Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), May 10, 2019 – In the afternoon of Wednesday, May 8, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), the Didier Drogba Foundation (FDD), and the Ministry of National Education, Technical Education, and Vocational Training (MENETFP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a project for the promotion of digital literacy in Africa, called KALAAN.

The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry's headquarters in the presence of H.E. Mrs. Kandia K. Camara, Minister of National Education, Technical Education, and Vocational Training; Mr. Didier Drogba, President of the Didier Drogba Foundation; Mr. Albert Nsengiyumva, Executive Secretary of ADEA; Mr. Yaya Toure, manager of BYTE sarl, as well as senior officials from the ministry, representatives from ADEA, FDD, and the media.

One of the goals of the KALAAN project, beyond making raising awareness a priority in Africa among political authorities and the general public, is to promote literacy of over one million people in Côte d'Ivoire over three years and ten million people in Africa over five years, with a special emphasis on women. The project will use the Ivorian AmBC method for digital literacy developed on mobile phones by BYTE sarl.

"I am proud of this partnership, and the idea is to reach 10 million young people within five years in Africa," announced Mr. Didier Drogba.

Mr. Albert Nsengiyumva, Executive Secretary of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), stated, "The Didier Drogba Foundation approached us for this project. The idea is to reach as many African countries as possible, starting with Côte d'Ivoire. We had a meeting with the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group to discuss the modalities of this project. ADEA is ready to support this project with its partners because education is the key to the development of each country."

Minister Kandia Camara, who strongly encouraged this project, also emphasized the importance for women, men, and youth to learn to read, write, and calculate using smartphones, especially those living in rural areas. At the end of the ceremony, she thanked ADEA and the Didier Drogba Foundation for their support and assistance in implementing this project, as the entire Africa will benefit from these advantages.

This ceremony also served as a reminder that the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016-2025, created to achieve the ambitions of Agenda 2063, proposes, through its strategic objective 6, to "Launch effective global literacy campaigns across the continent to eradicate illiteracy."

Furthermore, the Strategy advocates for 8 specific action areas such as "Revisiting and expanding existing literacy campaigns" and "Promoting the teaching of languages, social sciences, mathematics, and the use of ICT in literacy programs." CESA 16-25 also states that "very few African countries have launched massive literacy campaigns as Cuba, Nicaragua, and other Asian countries did in the 1960s and 1970s. Agenda 2030 has also repositioned literacy and emphasizes that writing and numeracy skills are essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)."

Finally, the use of ICT is one of the emerging literacy strategies being pursued in several countries. Literacy through mobile phones and tablets has proven effective in several African countries for accommodating learners in mobility or those who can’t attend face-to-face classes.

Today, thanks to this Memorandum of Understanding, a massive campaign for digital literacy via mobile phones is finally underway!