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Let’s choose what we post online carefully
How the internet helps me make informed choices
We live in a world that is awash with information, some of which can build us and some that can destroy us in just a click of a button. Access to the Internet is increasing worldwide. Between 2000 and 2015, global Internet penetration grew seven-fold from 6.5 percent to 43 percent. Yet millions of people still lack access to quality, credible information. In some instances, this lack of information can be life-threatening; in others it constrains social and economic growth. For a couple of months through Union National des Femmes Djiboutian (UNFD) I have been part of its online Life skills...
So, you think you are safe online?
Staying safe online is an important issue for young people using the internet, with cyberbullying becoming an increasingly serious problem all over the world. It must be noted, that technology is threatening child development by disrupting the crucial learning relationship between adults and children and has exposed many children to different vices of society. The advent of smartphones and social media nevertheless mean that today’s environment is now far more complex for young people to negotiate. The digital world is reducing contact time between the generations – a development with...
Increasing digital access and skills to prepare Djiboutian youths for the digital economy
In its 2063 Agenda, the African Union states that one of its main aspirations is “an Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth.” Over the next few decades, us young Africans will play a critical and vital role in the social and economic development of the continent. Africa is facing a demographic explosion which will see its population double to more than two billion people in the next generation. This is happening in my country Djibouti, which has less than 1 million citizens now. In the digital age that we are...
Re-visiting Djiboutian curriculum to re-skill young people for digital jobs
The Government of Djibouti recognizes education as essential for growth and human development. As a result, the government has placed education at the center of its development policies. In 2000, an education reform was initiated with the goal of improving access, quality, and relevance of the education being taught in Djiboutian schools. Despite progress in increasing access and coverage in education, access to education continues to be one of the country’s major challenges. Other challenges include quality, the availability of learning materials, and disparities due to gender, geographic...
Digital is the pathway to the future we want
Not one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be accomplished without digital technology. Information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly disrupting our changing world. In Africa, the world's youngest continent, it is crucial to ensure Africa’s greatest resource, youth, will be able to adjust efficiently and effectively as new skills are redefined by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. That’s why digital literacy is an imperative skill. For each African country, integration of computer science training in the national curriculum must be a reality...
We all can do It!
Here stands my creation, my very own, Soon to discover knowledge hitherto unknown, As it ventures into the uninhabitable zone. But what is this? Its wisdom has grown And here I stand, all alone, Next to my creation and its clones As if to strip humanity to its bones The robot and its army of drones Oh, how humanity has advanced from stone! But I snap out of my daydream, No longer alone, here is my team A firm group of eighteen That dared to dream To take on the world’s cream Over the next few weeks, we shall give our hand And prepare to make our stand The Five shall go, hand in hand To compete...
The dangers of technology and misinformation
From Arthur Miller’s The Crucible to the spicy political debates that occur on Twitter, mob mentality has taken root in many of our key institutions, from our internet activity to the issue of vaccine hesitancy. This, juxtaposed with the alarming rate at which misinformation is spread, has helped foster the emergence of a new kind of pandemic within my community in 2022: an infodemic. Whether it be through TikTok trends spreading the whispers of a new government conspiracy or the outlandish anti-vax tweets that spread like wildfire, we impressionable teenagers are particularly vulnerable to...