Africa’s number one recruitment service AfricaWork and Finnish mobile learning service Funzi have entered into a partnership to improve the employability of millions of people in 37 African countries.
Funzi offers free and premium courses that help job seekers gain relevant employability skills and improve their chances of finding jobs. AfricaWork promotes Funzi courses across their site to provide an opportunity for job seekers to improve critical 21st century skills whilst looking for a career change.
“With our partnership with Funzi, AfricaWork can now offer job seekers in Africa with a holistic recruitment service that bridges critical skills gaps in Africa,” says Frederic de Morcourt, CEO and Founder of AfricaWork.
Learning that is accessible to everyone
Personalized skills development allows job seekers to become and remain employable. Funzi has made significant progress towards being a truly scalable, systemically relevant catalyst: a mobile learning service that is accessible to anyone with a mobile device.
The service offers personalized access to quality, affordable learning – mainly in non-formal and informal settings – using robust technologies and a gamified pedagogy. The service is structured into a framework at the intersection of human-centered design, learning, and digital technology.
The distribution partnership with AfricaWork allows the service to deliver high-quality learning content to reach millions of people across 37 countries in Africa.
With AfricaWork’s broad reach, Funzi courses are now available for millions of people that previously may not have had access to free and affordable career development services. By providing learning opportunities to people instantly with a recruitment service, this partnership aims to bridge skills gaps across African countries.
“If widely adopted, digital technologies hold the promise of helping firms grow, and most importantly, create more jobs for everyone, not just a privileged few,” said Mark Dutz, World Bank Lead Economist and one of the report authors of The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All.
The AfricaWork and Funzi partnership ensure that job applicants have access to learning critical 21st century skills needed in the job-seeking process.
Skills that get job applicants noticed
The World Economic Forum (2020b, p. 5) has stated that the most coveted-after skills of the future are critical thinking, analysis, problem-solving, as well as self-management, which includes active learning, resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility.
Funzi’s course selection covers these skills through themes of employability; leadership, time management, entrepreneurship, and communication, in and out of the workplace, and other life skills that help people shine with their job applications, excel in their interviews and thrive in their newly found jobs.
Additionally, courses on healthy living and sustainable societies are also available. Job seekers gain skills that make them outstanding candidates in the application process and prepare them to start their new jobs successfully.
“The most exciting aspect of the partnership between AfricaWork.com and Funzi is the way we add the learning component to the process of job seeking. There are a lot of companies that match jobs with candidates, but those that enable and empower the job seekers to learn the skills they need to become even more successful in their careers are few and far between,” says Aape Pohjavirta, Founder & President of Funzi
Courses in English and French
The majority of Funzi courses are in English and are available globally to anyone with a connected device. The courses are written in easy to understand everyday language without complex academic terminology.
With the AfricaWork partnership, a selection of Funzi’s most popular courses are now available in French to ensure that the francophone population in African countries can also learn with Funzi. This partnership aims to unlock the potential and inspire change in the African workforce.