The Cyber Security Upskilling Program is an online 6-week long program that was launched on July 24th 2021. This program aims to equip young professionals with highly competitive cybersecurity skills that will boost their entrepreneurial/market readiness in areas of cybersecurity. This program has been carefully designed to include the necessary technical as well as soft skills that will help launch the participants’ careers. The programme was supported by ABSA Group‘s Cyber Academy.

Goals:

In the short term:

• For education programs from various non-IT disciplines, start to raise awareness about cybersecurity as a potential career path for their students through cross-registrations, speaker panels, Career Planning Services advertisements, networking events, etc. 


• For Rwanda’s cybersecurity education programs, open applications to students who do not come from an IT background. (e.g., eliminating a Bachelor in Computer Science as a prerequisite to a Master in Cybersecurity)

In the long term:

• Upward trend of Cyber recruitment statistics in Rwanda showcasing holistic recruitment from different education backgrounds.


• Recruitment culture change: cybersecurity job advertisement descriptions begin to be written with less narrow technological focus, instead favouring a balanced mix of analytical and soft skills, and the keen interest to upskill and cross-skill


• Cyber companies instituting robust on-the-job learning and training programs to meet the ever-evolving cyber field rather than relying on pre-existing technical knowledge.

Impact of the program in Kigali:

• Contributed towards 5 different transferable skills mappings from the Montreal Hub


• Successfully designed and executed curriculum, and graduated the first cybersecurity cohort of the SkillUp programme, 15 students after 6 weeks of classes, with the support of ABSA Group, a WEF Centre for Cybersecurity partner


• Presented project at Fighting Misinformation Online Event in partnership with Rwandan National Cybersecurity AUthority (Jan 2022)


• Presented project at Get Safe Online Rwanda for Cybersecurity Awareness month (Nov 2021)