Orange Mali–UNDP Digital Skills Partnership

Mali faces a pronounced digital skills gap, and women are especially underrepresented in the country's technology sector — a pattern the World Bank's 2021 report on African digital skills highlighted as a continent-wide risk to inclusive digitalisation.
On 28 June 2024, UNDP Mali and Orange Mali signed a two-year partnership to open digital career pathways for 3,000 young people, delivered through the existing Orange Digital Center in Bamako. The programme launched immediately with a pilot cohort of 200 young women trained in digital marketing, web development, graphic design and video editing.
The partnership sits within UNDP's 2023–2025 global strategy for private-sector partnerships and Orange Group's 'Engage 2025' digital-skills plan for Africa. So far, only descriptive, self-reported figures from the launch announcements are available — the 200-woman pilot has started, but the 3,000-youth target and any employment outcomes remain to be independently verified as the two-year programme progresses.

Read the full analysis: https://www.wearetech.africa/en/fils-uk/news/tech/mali-orange-undp-partner-to-train-3-000-youth-in-digital-skills