It also highlights the successes, strength and resilience of its users, while strengthening Facebook's ongoing engagement in the region.
NAIROBI, Kenya, December 17, 2020/APO Group/ —
Facebook(Facebook.com)today unveiled a "Highlights of 2020" infographic showcasing some of its top investments and stocks across Africa in 2020. It is accompanied by an animated video celebrating and featuring people spread across the continent, who are rising up against the challenges of this particular year. It also highlights the successes, strength and resilience of its users, while strengthening Facebook's ongoing engagement in the region.
Kojo Boakye, Director of Public Affairs for Africa, said: "We know that this year has brought many unexpected challenges to the world, including here in Africa. The COVID pandemic has changed the way we work, bring us together and impacted many local economies and businesses. Despite this, we continue to see and hear so many stories of resilience, strength and growth. As Facebook, we remain committed to the continent, and our highlights in 2020 only accentuate some of these investments and the impact we've been able to have in supporting the growing ecosystems of developers, SMBs, creatives, and many other communities. »
Here are some of the main highlights of 2020:
- 2Africa: Together with 8 international and local partners, we have launched 2Africa, one of the largest submarine projects in the world, with 37,000 kms all around the continent, connecting 16 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe and which aims to provide access to increased Internet capabilities.
- Support COVID-19 efforts: In the context of COVID-19, support more than 40 countries in Africa in collaboration with local health authorities, through education campaigns and information tools on Facebook and Via WhatsApp.
- Economic Impact Training: 55,210 SMEs have been trained in 14 countries through our economic impact programs, including Boost with Facebook and SheMeansBusiness; and 229 young people were trained through the Digify Pro program, and 183 of them got jobs.
- Developer Circles: We have expanded our Developer Circle Program to more than 76,000 people, from 45 cities across 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Digital literacy training: Facebook provided digital literacy training, focusing on online safety, privacy, news, media literacy and digital citizenship, in 6 countries, training 26,562 people.
- Supporting SMEs: Creation of a Business Resource Centre to support local SMEs and roll out a $1.8 million SME grant program for SMEs in Nigeria and South Africa to help mitigate some of the effects against COVID-19
- Digital Skills Training: We delivered digital skills training, focusing on online safety, privacy, news, media literacy and digital citizenship, in six countries, training 26,562 people.
- Supporting SMEs: Creation of a Business Resource Centre to support local SMEs and roll out a $1.8 million SME grant program for SMEs in Nigeria and South Africa to help mitigate some of the effects of COVID-19
- Facebook Journalism Project (FJP): In collaboration with the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), we provided $140,000 in grants to South African publishers and established a $250,000 video training program targeting 10,000 journalists across Africa covering COVID-19.
- Facebook Office in Nigeria: Announced the opening of our 2nd African office in Lagos, Nigeria, in the second half of 2021. The first in Africa to include a team of expert engineers building for the future of Africa and beyond.
- Blood donation: Partnership with blood banks and local health authorities to roll out the blood donation function in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Chad, Namibia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Zimbabwe and Niger. More than 2.6 million Facebook users have signed up to receive blood donation notifications from blood donation centers.
