Mercy Mangwana Mubayiwa

The development of digital skills is of outstanding importance, especially in Africa with its young population and dynamic economies. It involves training young people to become responsible actors of a digital society. This includes future employability as well as the ability to deal critically with digital media or political participation via the Internet. In most cases, the training of digital skills does not lack ideas, initiatives or the political will. However, there is often a gap between grassroots initiatives by well-educated young Africans and government agencies that prevents innovative ideas from being implemented or scaled up. The panel will try to bridge this gap by discussing how the various stakeholders from national education policy, international and civil society education organizations, and maker spaces and innovation hubs can work in a concerted manner to improve digital literacy in Zimbabwe and Africa in general. The panel will address questions like what could or should be the role of hubs and maker spaces in the macro context of education? How can grassroot initiatives connect and scale in cooperation with large international organizations? And how can the innovative power and the local know-how of the innovation scene inform policy processes and national level programme design?