The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) through its Chief Skills Office has partnered with the Rwanda Telecenter Network (RTN) to roll out Coursera Online Learning programs to improve the career skills of Rwandans. RTN is being supported by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in implementing the program.

Coursera is a world-wide online learning platform founded in 2012. It offers open online courses, specializations, degrees, professional and master track courses.

The platform works with universities and other organizations to offer courses in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, and others.

The RDB Chief Skills Office and RTN are giving both unemployed and employed Rwandans access to 90% of Coursera catalogue courses and certificate programs at zero cost. With the Coursera programs, registered learners are gaining unlimited and free access to more than 3,800 courses taught by highly reputed professors and mentors from world-class universities such as Duke University, University of London,  Ecole Polytechnic Paris, University of Amsterdam, National University of Singapore, New York Institute of Finance, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Yale University in the USA, John Hopkin’s University and from companies such as International Business Machines Corporation and Google among others.

Commenting on the program, Elodie Rusera, the RDB Chief Skills Officer said;

“The RDB Skills Office and RTN are working closely with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation to see that this initiative is successfully rolled out to improve the skills of public servants and all Rwandans as well as improve digital literacy through courses on the Coursera platform. This initiative is an intervention in the labour market, especially for Rwandans that have been affected by Covid-19 to re-skill and re-enter the workforce.  By the end of December 2020, we expect more than 13,000 people will have been trained under this Coursera partnership with RTN and RDB Skills Office.”

Today, 4,200 Rwandans from different backgrounds are enrolled in various courses on the platform.

On August 18^th this year, a virtual convocation was held to celebrate the achievement of around 2,000 first graduates from 17 Commonwealth counties. Rwanda is the second country after Ghana to have the highest number with over 480 people who have successfully graduated in this program mainly in information Technology, Management and communication courses so far.

Paul Barera, the Chief Executive Officer of RTN, noted:

“We understand that some learners may not have access to internet or computers but we are working with the RDB Skills Office to leverage Government’s Employment Service Centers and our Telecentres located in every district countrywide to give people access to the facilities.”

To enroll on any of the courses being offered as a Government employee, please liaise with your HR manager or  send an email to skills@rdb.rw. For non-Government employees, please fill the application form available on this link: https://rtn.rw/rtn_col_coursera_workforce_recovery/ or send an email to e-learning@rtn.rw

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