Generation Connect Young Leadership Programme (GCYLP) is an exciting programme to engage, empower, and inspire young digital leaders and changemakers. GCYLP aims to support young visionaries from around the world who propose creative, far-reaching, innovative, and feasible community-driven projects aimed at creating a more inclusive and empowered digital future. 

ITU in partnership with Huawei, is providing guidance, training, and financial support to 30 young fellows per year to enable them to practically implement digital development projects in their diverse communities across the world. Through this programme, young leaders have the unique opportunity to make new digital development ideas a reality, or to expand the impact of their existing projects!

Who should apply?

• Are you a young person aged 18-28?
• Are you interested in making real impact in your communities by leading your own digital development project?
• Are you currently enrolled or recently graduated from a tertiary education institution from a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) or a demonstrably STEM-related academic programme?
• Are you able to communicate in English, the main language of the programme? This language requirement is to ensure that all fellows can benefit from the planned offerings of trainings, networking, and events.

What will you get?

• Virtual mentorship and leadership training sessions from ITU and Huawei.
• Participation in an in-person global training week (location TBC).
• Up to USD 10,000 grant to implement a digital development project of your choice. All 30 selected fellows will receive an initial USD 5000 grant towards the implementation of a digital development project of their choice. The most impactful projects at the end of the year will receive an extra USD 5000 grant to scale up.

The programme on Generation Connect Young Leadership will be conducted in English only.

Applications are open!

Please complete the application form by the deadline of 23:59 CET on Saturday 23 March 2024. This form is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Please Click on the top-right hand side of the form to change the language.

Read: MTN Group and Huawei Partner to Launch Joint Innovation Technology Lab for Advancing Africa’s Digital Ecosystem

This article was first published by OpenMap Development Tanzania

“Open Skies Fellows,” a fellowship program led by OpenMap Development Tanzania in collaboration with Uhurulabs and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, is designed to support youth and give them a chance and responsibility to gain social and technological skills to leverage their potential to solve community challenges using technology.

In 2022 OSF expanded its wings to DRC where we explore the minds of young people, the selection of fellows started with a week-long workshop where 22 girls showed up with awesome project ideas at the workshop, and by January 2023, 10 projects that stood out the most were selected and got a chance to be funded.

This blog covers the projects that were conducted by the first cohort of fellows in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For the first cohort of Openskies in DRC, there are 10 projects, all of which serve a purpose in our society, whether it is climate change issues, education, finance, energy issues, agriculture, or afforestation and deforestation issues.

Water-related projects

In the first cohort, 3 of the 10 projects were based on Water Systems and how technologies can be used to provide water in good quality and quantity,

Marceline Nsimire worked on photovoltaic pumping, which is a system consisting of using solar panels to power a water pump, making it possible to draw water from a natural source such as a well or a river and store it in reservoirs for later use. The use of solar energy to drive the pump offers a sustainable and economical solution for irrigating crops, watering livestock, or supplying households with drinking water.

Rachel Kiwewa developed an automatic water distribution system, which automatically extracts the exact amount of water in liters requested from a water well, using an Arduino microcontroller, ultrasonic sensor, LCD SCREEN, and point of sale powered by solar. And the last one

Dieuvie Iyaba developed a smart water meter with an application that is a tool that allows you to measure water flows and then transmits it to an application that will help users track water consumption and see real-time billing.

Projects related to Apps development

Four fellows developed tools that can work with application, meaning it doesn’t need humans. Been to work, it can work even at a distance without an effort made by a human.

First, we have Grace and Ena, two fellows who worked together on a project called Fungola Car a tracking system consisting of an electronic kit with a GPS receiver receiving location coordinates, direction, speed, altitude, and time from surrounding satellites every 4 seconds. The latter communicates to a mobile application serving as a user interface for the driver or owner, allowing them to see in real-time where the vehicle is and to lock and unlock it remotely if necessary.

The second one is Louange Bosso who developed a smart trash can with an application that is a computerized system put in place to detect the trash can, once the trash can is full, the application will send a notification to let the owner know that the trash is full, so she/he can take out the trash.

The third one is Valerie Bosaki who developed a traveling elevator that allows people to carry weight when working at high height places with much more safety while minimizing the risk of harming themselves this traveling elevator only concerns people who carry weight out work at high heights.

Then Amina developed an automatic and connected drip irrigation system by the name of Moloni tech which is an automatic and connected drip irrigation system that has its origins in IOT applied to agriculture, to help farmers irrigate their land efficiently and reduce their water consumption.

Solar Tracker by Dorcas Bangamingi She created a solar tracker. It’s a rotating solar panel system that traps solar energy in the panel and then transforms it into electricity. When there is no electricity, it can last up to 4 hours. It can rotate following the direction of the sun and it has an alarming system that can notify users through SMS for repair. The prototype that has been developed can only charge phones and switch on the light.

Transforming Organic Waste into Biogas: A Project for a Healthy Environment, a Diversified Economy, and Climate Change Mitigation

Developed by Nadege Mukanisa the vision of this project is to recover organic waste for a healthy environment and a diversified economy. The project is developed so it can help transform Organic Waste into Biogas: by Developing a system to efficiently transform organic waste into biogas for heating purposes. She is looking forward to reducing Youth unemployment by Creating employment opportunities, particularly for young individuals through the various phases of the project. Lastly, it addresses deforestation by providing an eco-friendly alternative to traditional heating sources, contributing to the fight against global warming and climate change.

Despite COVID-19 hindering project implementation in the DRC, we have managed to get 10 strong projects that will make an impact on society, Since most people have a negative perception of this country this project implementation was a win-win and a way to show Africans that DRC is a safe country and has many innovative youth that are ready to change the world.

For more insight into the Open Skies Program visit: https://openskiesfellows.org/

Ericsson and MTN Group have renewed their partnership for continued delivery to MTN of two flagship products from the Ericsson Business and Operations Support Systems portfolio, Ericsson Charging and Ericsson Mediation. These solutions are integrated with Ericsson Dynamic Activation (EDA) from the Ericsson Network Management portfolio. As part of the partnership, Ericsson will provide these solutions for the next 5 years across MTN’s pan-African market.

The partnership includes the modernisation of MTN Group’s Business Support Systems (BSS) ecosystem, enabling best-in-class features and capabilities that support exploring monetisation streams and new business models, such as 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

This partnership plays a significant role in advancing MTN Group’s cloud-native transformation, fostering continued growth and aligning with the accelerated implementation of MTN Group’s Ambition 2025 strategy, which aims to build one of the largest and most valuable platforms utilising connectivity and infrastructure businesses for both mobile and fixed access networks across the consumer, enterprise, and wholesale segments.

With this agreement, MTN will continue using Ericsson Charging, Ericsson Mediation and Ericsson Dynamic Activation as part of the overall BSS landscape. With the ongoing support from Ericsson, MTN will have a robust base from which to grow and scale its services across Africa, capturing and securing revenue streams, enhancing billing accuracy and granularity, supporting new services, delivering revenue assurance, and enabling data monetization through preparation for analytics and IoT.

Mazen Mroue, MTN Group Chief Technology and Information Officer, shares: “We continue looking to elevate our technological infrastructure and offer pioneering services in our markets to our customers while achieving cost efficiency through our expansive scale. The sustained collaboration with Ericsson has been instrumental in promoting innovation, standardisation and enhancing operational efficiency. The recent agreement with Ericsson marks a significant milestone, enabling MTN to tap into the transformative power of cloud computing, driving us towards the objectives outlined in our Ambition 2025 strategy. This strategic move underscores our commitment to embracing innovative technologies that enhance customer experience and drive sustainable growth.”

Hossam Kandeel, Vice President and Head of Global Customer Unit MTN and Customer Unit MTN Africa at Ericsson Middle East and Africa, says: “As we continue to evolve and expand our partnership with MTN Group, we are committed to collaborating and providing the latest technology solutions that will help MTN operating companies to capture and secure revenue streams while delivering improved services to their customers. Our Business and Operations Support Systems portfolio is designed to provide the flexibility and agility communication service providers need to respond to changing customer demands. We are happy to sign this contract and support MTN Group in delivering superior service experiences, creating new business models for 5G, and driving digitalisation across Africa.”

Ericsson’s agile, flexible, robust, and resilient Business and Operations Support Systems and Network Management portfolios uniquely position MTN Group to unlock new revenue streams and capitalise on emerging opportunities in both consumer and enterprise markets. This multi-year partnership is a strong foundation for continued growth and success in the years to come.

Read: MTN Group and Huawei Partner to Launch Joint Innovation Technology Lab for Advancing Africa’s Digital Ecosystem