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Africa-Asia Youth Coding Initiative Phase II — UNESCO-CODEMAO AI Curriculum Integration in Namibia

Namibia · Windhoek · See the Namibia profile

UNESCO and CODEMAO's Africa-Asia Youth Coding Initiative entered Phase II in Namibia in August 2025, building on Phase I's 3,000+ trained youth and 350 teachers to embed coding and AI into the national ICT curriculum, starting with 8 pilot schools and 200 tablets.

3,000+ youth
Young people trained in Phase I (2021-2024)
350 teachers
Teachers trained in Phase I (2021-2024)
200 OPPO Pad 2 tablets
Tablets distributed at Phase II launch (August 2025)
8 schools across 7 regions
Pilot schools in Phase II initial rollout (August 2025)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
UNESCO / CODEMAO / Namibian Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC) / National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST)
Period
2021-2024 (Phase I, after-school pilots); Phase II launched August 2025, targeting national curriculum integration by 2029
Keywords
AI literacy, coding education, ICT curriculum, teacher training, digital equity

Context

UNESCO's Africa-Asia Youth Coding Initiative, delivered with Chinese edtech company CODEMAO and funded partly by OPPO, ran its first phase in Namibia from 2021 to 2024 as an after-school programme, training more than 3,000 young people and 350 teachers in coding fundamentals. In August 2025, Phase II launched in Windhoek, moving beyond after-school clubs to integrate coding and artificial intelligence directly into Namibia's national ICT curriculum, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC) and the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST).

Objectives

Phase II's stated ambition is to reach all of Namibia's ICT teachers and students by 2029 by embedding coding and AI content into the national ICT curriculum, rather than leaving it as an optional after-school activity.

Activities

As a first concrete step, 200 OPPO Pad 2 tablets were handed over to eight pilot schools spread across seven regions — Hardap, Kavango East, Kavango West, Khomas, Omusati, Oshana, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi — alongside an expanded teacher-training component intended to build local capacity to deliver the new curriculum content.

Results

Phase I reached more than 3,000 young people and 350 teachers between 2021 and 2024. Phase II's initial rollout (August 2025) covers 8 pilot schools and 200 tablets, with national curriculum integration targeted for 2029.

Conclusions

This is a multi-year rollout still in its early stage: Phase I's reach figures are self-reported programme counts rather than an independent evaluation of learning gains, and Phase II's 2029 national-integration target is a plan, not yet an achieved outcome. The initiative depends on continued in-kind support from private donors (CODEMAO, OPPO) alongside government follow-through, and no test-score or skills-assessment data has yet been published for either phase.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — No overall budget figures are published; funding is a mix of in-kind private donations (CODEMAO expertise, OPPO tablets) and government/UNESCO partnership. Given the multi-year national curriculum-integration ambition, 'medium' is used as a conservative estimate pending disclosed costs.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Phase I ran 2021-2024 and Phase II explicitly targets full national reach by 2029, making this an eight-year-plus programme end to end.
Staffing & skills
UNESCO programme staff, CODEMAO (Chinese edtech company) providing curriculum/technical content, Namibian Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC), National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST), Teachers trained under the expanded Phase II training component

Conditions for success

  • Government ministry co-ownership (MEIYSAC, NCRST) enabling a path from after-school pilot to national curriculum integration
  • In-kind private-sector support (CODEMAO technical/curriculum input, OPPO hardware donations)
  • Building on an established Phase I base (3,000+ trained youth, 350 trained teachers) rather than starting from zero

Common failure modes

  • Reach figures for both phases are self-reported programme counts, not independently verified learning outcomes
  • The 2029 national-integration target is a plan; no evidence yet that curriculum integration beyond the 8 pilot schools has occurred
  • Continued dependence on in-kind private donor support (CODEMAO, OPPO) creates a risk if that support is not sustained
  • No test-score or skills-assessment data has been published for either phase

Where it fits

Governance type
national ministry partnership with UN agency and private-sector donors
Scale
national, phased rollout (8 pilot schools initially)
Income level
upper-middle income

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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