Training a generation and growing Congolese innovation

The advanced digital skills programme is the heart of Component 3. It aims to train profiles that the administration, operators and sector companies can put to work directly.

The pathways cover the tightest areas of the market: software development, cybersecurity, network and systems administration, data science and governance, cloud and applied artificial intelligence.

• in the order of 3,000 graduates targeted by 2029
• several thousand people enrolled in training
• pathways designed with sector employers
• recognised certification on completion

Training at scale requires institutions that are equipped, connected and staffed by trained teachers. Working with the Ministry of Higher Education, the project supports the modernisation of digital curricula and the equipping of selected institutions.

Support covers computer laboratories, teaching platforms, training of trainers and updating of syllabuses.

• equipping laboratories and training rooms
• training of teachers and trainers
• modernised syllabuses
• articulation with campus connectivity (Component 1)

Innovation centres give project holders a place, guidance and access to equipment they could not finance alone. The project targets around ten centres, spread beyond the capital alone.

These centres play a dual role: an entry point into digital careers for young people in their territory, and an incubation venue for local startups.

• around ten innovation centres
• presence beyond Kinshasa, across the provinces
• guidance, mentoring and access to equipment

The project aims to support around a hundred Congolese startups, a significant share of them women-led, through performance-based grants (PBG) released as verifiable milestones are met.

This mechanism avoids sunk financing: support unfolds at the pace of results the supported company actually demonstrates.

• around a hundred startups supported, a significant share women-led
• grants released on verifiable milestones
• technical support alongside financing

Women's inclusion is not a side note: it is a quantified, tracked target of the results framework. A substantial share of the graduates targeted and of the startups supported should be women or women-led.

That target requires specific measures: upstream outreach, mentoring schemes, adapted training conditions and disaggregated tracking of enrolment and completion.

• around a third women among the graduates targeted
• a significant share of women-led startups
• dedicated mentoring and guidance

A high-performing network only fully serves the country if Congolese services and content flow across it. Sub-component 3.2 supports local content production, national hosting and the development of digital services suited to the country's uses.

The stakes are economic too: hosting and producing locally retains value in the country, reduces international transit costs and improves the perceived quality of services.

• support to local content and service production
• development of national hosting
• structuring the Congolese digital sector