A new chapter is being written this week in Ghana’s digital strategy. On Monday, August 31, 2026, the Ministry of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations launched an intensive training session for future instructors at the Ghana India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (GI KACE). The initiative builds directly on the national One Million Coders programme, championed by President John Dramani Mahama since he took office.
Over five days, running through Friday, September 4, certified technical experts from Huawei Technologies are guiding participants through Datacom and Access Network technologies. The format blends classroom theory, hands on workshops and competency assessments, with full days stretching from nine in the morning to five in the evening. Yet the real stakes go beyond simply passing on knowledge. Every trainer certified at the end of the programme commits to teaching at least twenty more citizens, creating a multiplier effect meant to spread digital skills quickly across the country.
This training of trainers reflects the broader logic behind the One Million Coders programme, whose ambition remains considerable: equipping one million Ghanaians with digital skills within four years, preparing them for employment, remote work and, more broadly, participation in the global digital economy. Open to anyone holding a national Ghana Card, the scheme is not limited to young people, even though they remain its primary audience, and it stays completely free for participants.
Given the government’s budget constraints, the authorities have chosen to forge partnerships with several global tech giants. Huawei and Google both committed, back in the summer of 2025, to training one hundred thousand Ghanaian youth each per year. Other players such as MTN, Telecel, Amazon Web Services and Oracle are also contributing specialised modules, offering internationally recognised certifications that should meaningfully boost participants’ future employability.
Progress so far has been gradual but steady. Roughly fifty thousand people had been trained by the end of 2025, and officials are now targeting between three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand additional beneficiaries over the course of 2026. The programme also pursues a gender balance goal, aiming for an even split between men and women, and looks to open opportunities beyond Ghana’s borders, particularly toward remote jobs in outsourcing sectors.
A few practical hurdles have slowed some registrations along the way. Several applicants reported difficulties during the facial verification step tied to the Ghana Card, often caused by poor lighting during the scan. Explanatory guides have since been shared on social media to help new applicants avoid this kind of snag.
By betting on a cascading training model and drawing heavily on support from major tech multinationals, Ghana hopes to turn an ambitious campaign promise into a measurable reality, one capable of reshaping the country’s standing on the map of Africa’s digital economies for years to come.