The Addis Ababa City Administration is ramping up its Coders Initiative to equip the city’s youth with the advanced ICT skills needed to meet rising global demand. The program is central to the city’s ambitious plan to become a "smart city," with a strong focus on preparing a new generation of tech professionals.

Awale Mohamed, Head of the Addis Ababa Innovation and Technology Development Bureau (ITDB), highlighted that of the 338,000 young people enrolled in the program within the city, approximately 200,000 have already completed their training. The administration is not stopping there; plans are in motion to train an additional 108,000 youths this summer, with a significant portion of the training conducted in partnership with the Addis Ababa Education Bureau.

The initiative is a cornerstone of the city's broader vision to transform Addis Ababa into a smart city by 2030, with a strong focus on digitalization across six key pillars: smart economy, environment, governance, living, mobility, and people. According to ENA, the training curriculum is comprehensive, covering everything from web programming and Android app development to data science and foundational artificial intelligence (AI) skills.

This intensified focus on tech education comes amid ongoing national efforts. In July, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology reported that 900,000 out of 1.6 million participants had already completed the national 5-Million Coders' Training Program, a broader initiative launched by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to position Ethiopia as a technology and economic hub.