The Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry Of Information And Communications has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with SMART AFRICA which is an initiative to connect, innovate, and transform the continent into a knowledge economy, thereby fostering global competitiveness and job creation. 

The MoU was signed by the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, on behalf of the Government and DG Lacina Kone on behalf of Smart Africa, while they both officially launched the Smart Africa Digital Academy Sierra Leone(SADA-SL).

The MOU is based at establishing a digital Academy, which will provide training in critical digital skills required to enable each citizen thrive in the digital economy, to enhance Digital Economy and Transformation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 4th of April 2023

In his keynote address, Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, welcomed Mr. Kone to Sierra Leone and commended his efforts in ensuring Africa realizes its full digital capacity adding that, Sierra Leone can only achieve digital transformation through robust digital training and that the Digital Academy will engage the capacity of policymakers and ordinary citizens to effect real digital transformation.

“President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has said in many instances that Sierra Leone cannot afford to miss out on the fourth industrial revolution. The World Bank has supported the government with a $50 million Digital Transformation Project to upscale Digital Training and improve Broadband Connectivity,” said Minister Swaray.

The Director General of Smart Africa applauded the commitment of the Minister of Information to bring Smart Africa to Sierra Leone.

He maintained that, the  commitment has led to many interventions by Smart Africa in the country and that, the Digital Academy will receive all the needed support to ensure solid basic education, fundamental ICT skills, and an enabling environment to enhance the digital economy in the country.

The Academy will work earnestly to solve some critical digital skills gap which may enable citizens to have a better stands in the digital economy which may be achieved under four components  ranging from, capacity building for decision-makers, programs for digital inclusion, skills marketplace for professionals, and Talent Bridge for businesses.

The Ministry of Information and Communications in collaboration with Smart Africa Digital Academy has conducted Training for Trainers (ToT) on Advance Big Data Analytics. A total of 25 ICT experts in the public sector took part in the training and received international certification. Two beneficiaries, one from DSTI and the other from the Ministry of Finance, were present to testify how the training has impacted their work greatly.