Rwanda Encourages Youth To Take Advantage Of ICT Opportunities

Written by Ann Brown

Feb 09, 2014

Young people in Rwanda are urged to take part in different debates by following live on Youtube a bi-monthly YouthConnekt Hangout program and share their views through social networks.

The youth discuss different topics that are aimed to find solutions to different problems they face in life. The last week’s debate was the expression of young people about the role of mobile application and how they can create the mobile application technologies to solve socio-economic problems.

YouthConnekt was initiated by the Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT) in 2012 as a platform to connect young Rwandans and increase their participation in the country’s socio-economic transformation. The initiative has since spun off a number of well-established programs such the YouthConnekt Dialogue and YouthConnekt Awards.

YouthConnekt Hangout brings together various partners including UNDP, ADMA, Tigo Rwanda, Zilencio Creativo, BSC Ltd and HeHe Ltd to create a platform for youth, government, development partners, private sector and civil society to connect youth to opportunities for their personal and socio-economic development.

The last Hangout gathered the youth fro different sites mainly the students of University of Rwanda/Huye (UR Huye), those of INATEK in Ngoma District, and the kLab members, a group of young ICT innovators in Kigali and the Ministry of Youth and ICT headquarters. It was an occasion where the youth were interacting with the Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana.