With support from ITU and the Government of Norway under the Project “Boosting Digital Skills through Digital Transformation Centres”, the DTC in Sierra Leone, Bridge the Digital Divide Sierra Leone (BDD-SL), conducted a train-the-trainer programme on the Cisco and HP-LIFE courses offered under the DTC Initiative. The training was implemented from 7 April to 7 May 2025 in five regions across the country, namely Bo, Magburaka, Kambia, Waterloo and Freetown, with a primary objective of building the capacity of selected trainers in both technical proficiency and instructional delivery, using the Cisco Networking Academy and HP LIFE platforms. It also aimed to empower a new generation of digital facilitators capable of cascading knowledge and skills into rural, peri-urban, and underserved communities in Sierra Leone.
The programme was carried out using a blended learning approach, combining in-person instruction with practical, hands-on activities. It emphasized interactive learning, peer-to-peer collaboration, and real-time demonstrations to ensure participants gained practical and transferable skills. A total of 211 participants (35 per cent women) consisting of community-based ICT facilitators, educators from technical and vocational institutions, and youth organization leaders took part in the training. Each trainer was encouraged to train a minimum of 50 individuals in his/her respective community in the six months following the activity, to ensure impact and scalability. As part of the next steps, DTC Sierra Leone will be organising a training programme targeting over 600 citizens from these communities.
