Click Skills

Education as currently structured in Nigeria and most of Sub Saharan Africa is quite inadequate and unable to produce graduates with the requisite skill set for the 21st century. The Global Transitioning from Fossil Fuels to Net Zero Carbon Economy by 2050, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Sustainable Development Goals, The Internet of Things etc, remain the contending issues of the present requiring precised Re-skilling and Up-skilling to catalyze the new "revolution" in every sense of the word. The Digital Economy has clearly proven to become inevitable necessitating Digital Inclusion as a sin qua non for self actualization. CLICK SKILLS is an Online Platform that lists, promotes and facilitates the delivery of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs - by the best Universities in the world). Upon taking each relevant course, each beneficiary acquires the fundamental skills to attain self fulfillment and contribute to society in their individual career path.

Of the about 4 Million staff strength in the payroll of the Federal Government of Nigeria's Civil Service, only 37 percent could be said to be Digital Compliant whose generation naturally gravitates towards the Digital Economy. The vast majority (63%), though, could be said to be merely floating in gross efficiency and appalling productivity due to their digital exclusion. The trajectory is seemingly not positive as Universities across Nigeria and much of Sub Saharan Africa are little inclined to develop curricula that bridge the knowledge gap exacerbating the Digital Work Force Challenge. Across Nigerian Universities and much of Sub Saharan Africa, Tens of Thousands of young graduates are virtually being pushed to the labor market without the competitive Skill Set that guarantee them the required jobs or the capacity to set up their own businesses. The prevailing manifestation is debilitating lack of opportunities including, but not limited to, lack of participation in the Digital Economy. Ultimately, the key factor contributing to this problem is the lack of skill based curricula and the right on-the-job training which have direct relation to our solution.

Click Skills is an online platform listing, promoting and facilitating skill based courses targeting the employed (public and private) and the unemployed graduates. Click Skills relies on the Massive Open Online Courses (https://www.edx.org/search?utm...) made available through the initiative of some best Universities in the world to bridge the knowledge gab to meet contemporary global challenges. All relevant courses would be published on this platform and the links provided, deliberate steps are followed to promote these courses through Whatsapp groups, Facebook and other social media, then those that indicate interest are guided on the step by step process of taking the course to completion. Notably, the entire process of listing, promoting and facilitating that Click Skills does is online. This online platform  provides a costs effective and stress free medium to learn new skills, train public and private workforce to advance or change careers.

Two specific groups are targeted, namely, public/private sector employees and the unemployed graduates. The public sector workers at the Federal, States and Municipal levels are grossly inefficient due to lack of critical on-the-job training or necessary working conditions. For this reason, they are denied available online or digital resources that could simplify and/or improve their productivity. As for the unemployed graduates, their respective studies at various Nigerian Universities lack that clear cut link to their experiences in the "real world" causing this group to be subjected to almost inhuman living conditions of lack, distress, self doubts and lack of ability to buy essential services. The situation is made severe by the absence of any government's intervention in the form of Social Security, Internship or in deed any grants to turn their ideas and/or talents into thriving small businesses. Understanding these target groups is crucial in imagining any solution that would make meaningful difference in their individual lives. Therefore, on individual or collective levels, we have remained very engage with the target, seeking inputs from a reasonable sample across the board throughout the process. In very concrete and measurable ways the skills gained through these courses, example, The University of Queensland Australia - Essential Tools for the Low Carbon Economy ( https://www.edx.org/course/ess...)  , would give beneficiaries the fundamental skills to catalyze the transitioning from fossil fuel based to Net Zero carbon Economies. With this skill set acquired, the neither to unemployed graduates would become sought after by governments and private organizations alike to help them remain viable in the Net Zero scheme of things. Most would set up their own small businesses while a lot others would be employed to help their individual employers remain relevant.

The relevant online courses which Click Skills lists, promotes and facilitates clearly align with the Digital Workforce Challenge faced by Nigeria and most of sub Saharan Africa. The target population of mostly public sector employees and unemployed graduates is also surgical as it addresses both the immediate and future of work and the corresponding productivity. The fundamental knowledge and affordable skills shared by our virtual platform is capable of enabling new entry into the workforce, re-entry for those whose sectors are clearly becoming obsolete, and also bring about a workforce that is an integral part of the Digital Economy.

Bansan Youth Association's key mandate is to seek training or any other activity geared towards improving the lots of the youths there. As governments at all level go weaker in providing essential services to the people, there is certainly a reliance on community-based Organizations to intervene through self help initiatives. Therefore, Click Skills is merely a scaling up of what has been going on for a significant length of time now. Bansan Community is an amalgam of 8 villages from where about 32 people are due for this courses in the immediate term. With deliberate promotional messages on social media, the participation is projected to go Nation wide and even beyond borders.

To the extent that innovation is bringing something new, Click Skills brings about an inconceivable possibility of having skill based knowledge from the best Universities in the world delivered as designed to those who otherwise couldn't otherwise dream of it. By listing, promoting and Facilitating online courses targeting people in the remotest parts of the world through the power of Digital Connection, knowledge and skills is acquired, careers are liberalized, and real lives are changed in significant ways not before imagined. At the time when the world is seriously considering online platform as a major means of delivering content to students, due largely to Global Pandemics and related events, Universities in Nigeria and most of Sub Saharan Africa remain stocked to old fashion ways. Therefore, Click Skills is catalytic in the sense that it stimulates the obvious in places where public policy in this area is rudimentary at best or completely non-existent. As beneficiaries demonstrate their new competencies acquired at our Online Platform, the positive ripple effect could have broader impact in both government considering online platform as a very potent medium for training her workforce and also possibly having the National Education Regulatory Authorities adopting it accordingly. 

The Internet is certainly at the heart of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Revolution and in recent times has evolved from important to inevitable. Click Skills is 100 percent dependent on the Internet and the relevant devices - computers, ipads, Cell phones. From the initial steps of Listing available Courses through Promoting the courses via social media to Facilitating the actual taking of the courses, it is Internet based, therefore virtual. For this reason, prospective beneficiaries (public sector worker and unemployed graduates) are to have access to a personal computer or laptop and the like. Whereas Click Skills team is always on hand providing course guidance from enrollment to completion to each and every beneficiary, such persons must individually own up the entire process. Ultimately, our facilitation process, especially for the indigent unemployed graduates, may include gifting data, printing reading materials and bearing the minimal cost implication related to some limited number of courses.

As indicated in my earlier response to a similar question, the Internet has, in recent times, evolved to become an inevitable tool that underpins just about everything we do. And this is quite wide ranging from the cars we drive to the medical procedures we undergo at hospitals. Click Skills is altogether virtual and its very essence is to bring the undeserved to the Digital new world. Essentially, the targets are presumed to already have a fair degree of computer literacy. There is very minimal facial contact between the facilitator and the prospective beneficiaries. The real time exchanges via emails, social media and phone calls shall be the preferred options while face-to-face meeting would be reduced to very limited occasions of targets needing special attention to pull through. As to how and where the Internet is already in used in the sharing of knowledge by institutions of learning, it is public knowledge that a great many citadels now has online option becoming the main stream vehicle for delivering contents to students.

Typically, it is not clear if Internet use especially for  study purposes presents to the users any clear cut risks. This is more so for the targets for this project who are basically full grown up adults (public sector workers and unemployed graduates) who have the required discipline to only remain logged in for studies and nothing else. Privacy or Security concerns certainly do not worry this category of people who go online for specifically study purposes. No credit cards or such sensitive information is required throughout the process.

36 persons from the 8 villages that make up Bansan community are currently being served by Click Skills. They represent the two target groups, namely, Public sector workers and the unemployed graduates. Given the accessibility of online resources and products, in one year, we will be serving at least 20 beneficiaries from each of the 36 States (Regions) and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, totaling 720. Over the next five years, though, our target is to reach a minimum 1000 persons in each of five English speaking West African Countries, bringing the total to 5000 for the period.

Our impact goals for the year is to equip 720 persons within the two target groups (public sector workers and unemployed graduates) with the right skill set to either improve their productivity or open new jobs window in the market. With the relevant skills acquired through taking hands-on courses on our platform, beneficiaries become presented with the choice of either changing a career path all together or perhaps doing what they already do in a much more efficient and productive manner. Accordingly, for the next five years, Clicks Skills sets out to reach 5000 persons across some West African Countries, delivering skill based courses that would significantly change their life choices in fundamental ways. Ultimately, as the numbers reached continue to increase over the medium to long term, the scale to the millions would occur at some point.

Basically, each and every person that takes each and every course(s) on Click Skills is taken into account in order to track progress. Periodic targets in terms of number of person expected to be reached remain critical. We have, for example, set out to currently guide 32 persons within the 8 villages that make up Bansan Community and should that total follow through to completion then we are seen to have recorded a 100 percent progress. The same applies for the one year and five years periods respectively. It is however important to note that in some instances, the target numbers may not be reached in exactitude and in such cases the actual the number reached would be highlighted and expressed in percentage reflecting the level of progress achieved accordingly. Another indicia being deployed for measurement is the number of person who would go all the way to use the skill acquired on our platform to make concrete decisions affecting their career choices thereby changing their rather dire circumstances for the better.

Six (6) key Executive members of Bansan Youth Association constitute the Solution Team. And they are all volunteers at this stage.

The weak government unable to meet the yearnings of the people in terms of public services in Nigeria and much of Sub Saharan Africa have left community-based organizations with the herculean task of becoming first responders on the needs of their inhabitants. Bansan Youth Association has traditionally been responsible for clearing of drainage, clear farm roads, maintain clean environment around community's market, primary health center, primary and secondary schools etc. The clear link between the high levels of crime and unemployment has necessitated prioritizing seeking hands-on skill training for the teaming youth in order to improve their living conditions, hence Click Skills. As always, the leaders (Executive) are selected through an open process where all adults gather at the community square once in every five years to choose by raise of hands in favor of their preferred choice. With this mandate, the Executive members of the youth Association become responsible for the development of Bansan Community on all fronts. The current Executive which has Mr Linus Agbor as leader has two years experience dealing with myriad of issues with cross sectorial and multi-disciplinary dimensions. All current Executive Members are college graduates with their individual sources of livelihoods while their services to the community is largely for the love of their cradle therefore voluntary.  Importantly, all segment of those we serve are in daily interaction with us to the extent that their input was considered in designing our solution.

Because realizing diversity, equity, and exclusivity requires deliberate concerted actions, we have, for example, a guiding principle of ensuring that all segment of our community is conspicuously represented in all we do. Of the Six Executive members, Three are Male and Three Female. Of the 36 persons currently being served across the 8 villages of Bansan Community 19 are female and 17 male. This is deliberate and sustainable throughout our engagements. 

We are applying for the Solve Global Challenge - Digital Inclusion which price money is US$10,000 to fund our hands-on online courses (skill training) for public sector workers and the unemployed graduates. As indicated in our "More About Your Solution' page, our most pressing barrier is financial and this price money would go a long way in guaranteeing success. With this Solve price money, we will pay for verified certificates to the University of Queensland Australia (Carbon 101x course) for 36 beneficiaries drawn from the 8 villages that make up Bansan Community. We will also be paying for a minimum of 20GB of data to be gifted to each of the 36 current target persons. We will also make provision for internet access, adequate cell phone airtime and other operational needs for the solution team to do their work of guiding all those who enroll for any of the relevant courses from start to completion .

We have deliberately designed our Solution (Click Skills) in such a way that less dependence on other would be the case. Ultimately, we have reached out to only those that can help with the required funds to realize our goals in the immediate and long terms. However, to avoid paying for events venues we have sought partnership with our Municipal Authorities which has a convergence of interest in the plight of the youths to make such venues available at no cost.

1. Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport - They can help in prioritizing youth training and skill based courses on Click Skills

2. National Directorate for Employment - To mainstream online courses as a prerequisite for any employment opportunity.

3. Federal Ministry of Information and Culture - To raise awareness on a national scale on the need for citizens to up-skill and/or re-skill to prepare for the Digital Workforce and the Digital Economy.

 4. SOLVE – Recommend organizations to partner Click Skills on Financial, Monitoring & Evaluation and Technology fronts.