• Cisco has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.
• The MoU is to provide access to training and opportunities for skills development locally.
• It is part of Cisco’s broader goal of training 10 million people across EMEA over the next 10 years.

Cisco has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) this week, with both organisations looking to address digital transformation in South Africa.

To that end, Cisco is committing from its end to provide training and skills opportunities to all South Africans, through its Cisco Networking Academy, Country Digital Acceleration and SkillsForAll programme and curriculum.

“Fulfilling our purpose to ‘Power an Inclusive Future for All’ means reimagining how we come together and how we respect each other’s identities and the roles we play both inside and outside of work. It means tearing down barriers to equity, collaboration, and connection – both in the many places we work and in the wider world,” explained Francine Katsoudas, EVP and chief people, policy & purpose officer at Cisco.

According to the company, this partnership is relevant to South Africa’s development agenda because it aligns with government’s National Development Plan (NDP), and Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), particularly with respect to high end skills development and job creation.

Unpacking the work of the Networking Academy further, Cisco notes that it is now in its 25th year. “In South Africa, 61% of the current intake of 82 219 students are female. This dedication to inclusivity also translates to instructors, where 574 out of a total of 1 127 instructors are female (51%),” it adds in a press release sent to Hypertext.

“The partnership with Cisco enables us to tackle the persistent challenge of unemployment, and youth unemployment in particular, in South Africa by bringing education and career connections to people who have historically been underserved and underrepresented in technology fields, including women, racial minorities, persons with disabilities, and rural populations,” adds Director-General of the DWYPD, advocate Mikateko Maluleke.

This latest announcement also forms part of Cisco’s broader skills development goals, as the company plans to train 10 million people across the EMEA region over the next 10 years. Hopefully a large contingent of that number are in South Africa.

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