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Good practice Imported

Ethiopian Coders Initiative — National AI and Data-Science Micro-Credentials via Udacity

Ethiopia · Addis Ababa · See the Ethiopia profile · See the Addis Ababa profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 70% 40/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Ethiopia and the UAE's free national online programme has issued Udacity-certified micro-credentials in Programming, Data Science and AI to over 5 million enrollees since 2024, surpassing its original target and expanding to a 7-million goal by 2026.

5,005,146
Total enrolments (by June 2026)
5,000,000
Original enrolment target (set July 2024)
7,000,000
Expanded target (by August 2026)
6–7 weeks per course
Course duration
Ethiopian Coders Initiative — National AI and Data-Science Micro-Credentials via Udacity

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Ministry of Innovation and Technology (Ethiopia) & Government of the United Arab Emirates, delivered via Udacity
Period
2024–2026 (ongoing)
Keywords
AI literacy, digital skills, coding, government partnership

Context

Launched in July 2024 by the governments of Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates, the '5 Million Ethiopian Coders Initiative' offers free online training in Programming Fundamentals, Data Science Fundamentals and Android Kotlin Development, delivered through Udacity and certified with a verifiable, uniquely-coded credential signed by Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun.

Results

By June 2026 the initiative had recorded 5,005,146 enrolments, surpassing its original five-million target nearly two years ahead of schedule. In response, Ethiopia's government and the UAE agreed to expand the programme to a seven-million-participant goal by August 2026. The figures reported are enrolment counts rather than independently verified completion or learning-outcome data, and no third-party evaluation of skill gains was found at time of review; each course runs six to seven weeks.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Ethiopia Ministry of Innovation and Technology programme administration, Government of the United Arab Emirates as bilateral funding partner, Udacity as course delivery and certification platform

Conditions for success

  • Bilateral government funding agreement (Ethiopia–UAE)
  • Free access removing cost barriers to enrolment
  • Verifiable, uniquely-coded digital credentials to support trust in certification

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Data sources

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