Senegal's Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane ran a Force-N pilot certifying 3,909 education staff in digital and AI skills with an 88% completion rate — 1,944 specifically in 'AI for education' — ahead of a Mastercard Foundation-backed rollout to 105,000 teachers.
3909 people
Education staff enrolled in the Force-N pilot (2025)
88 %
Certification completion rate (2025)
1944 people
Staff certified in the AI-for-education track (2025)
Details
Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane (Force-N), Ministry of Education, Mastercard Foundation
Period
2025 pilot, scaling 2025–2029
Keywords
teacher training, AI literacy, digital skills certification
Context
Under Senegal's Digital Strategy for Education 2025-2029, the Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane (UN-CHK) ran a 2025 pilot of its Force-N programme offering two online certification tracks for education personnel - 'Informatique et Internet pour l'éducation' and 'Intelligence artificielle pour l'éducation' - backed by the Mastercard Foundation alongside UN-CHK.
Activities
3,909 education staff enrolled in the pilot's two certification tracks: computing/internet for education and AI for education.
Results
More than 3,500 of the 3,909 enrolled staff completed certification (an 88% completion rate), including 1,594 certified in the digital-internet track and 1,944 certified in the AI-for-education track. Senegal's government has since announced a phased 'generalisation' of the training toward all of the country's roughly 111,000 teachers, with a stated rollout target of 105,000.
Conclusions
The reported figures are government/university-published enrolment and completion counts rather than independently measured teaching or learning-outcome data; the pilot is evidence of reach and completion at national scale, with instructional-impact evaluation still to come as the rollout expands.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — No specific budget figure is reported; the pilot is a Mastercard Foundation co-funded, university-delivered online certification programme.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — 2025 pilot cohort; government has announced a phased national 'generalisation' running through the 2025-2029 Digital Strategy for Education.
Staffing & skills
Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane (UN-CHK) delivered the online certification tracks, Mastercard Foundation co-funded the pilot alongside UN-CHK
Conditions for success
Existing national Digital Strategy for Education (2025-2029) providing policy backing
Foundation co-funding supporting free/subsidised access
Two distinct certification tracks letting staff choose general digital skills vs AI-specific content
Common failure modes
Completion figures reflect course completion, not a verified change in classroom practice or student outcomes
Scale-up to 105,000 teachers depends on funding and delivery capacity not yet demonstrated at that scale
Where it fits
Governance type
national government, university and philanthropic-foundation partnership
Scale
national pilot (3,909 staff), planned rollout toward ~105,000-111,000 teachers
Income level
low-income
Commonly funded by
Philanthropic / foundation fundingNational / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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