A young Zimbabwean Tatenda Magetsi has won the 2019 Blog4Dev competition held in 48 African countries.
Blog4Dev is a competition that invites young people to write a blog to share their views and solutions to challenges facing Africa’s development.
The 2019 Blog4Dev competition was launched by the World Bank Group on October 17, 2018 as part of the Youth Engagement Initiative on the annual International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (End Poverty Day). This is the first time that the competition was run in 48 African countries. Young people aged between 18-28 years were asked, “What will it take to enhance the skills needed to prepare Africa’s youth for the digital economy and the future of work?”.
The competition closed on November 30 and attracted 50 entries. The entries were reviewed by a panel of judges and the top two bloggers were interviewed to assess each candidate’s ability to present and defend their ideas.
“If we can’t critique, how can we create. If an education system only makes us fit to be passive citizens, then the opportunities presented by the digital economy will pass us by. We need to make a cognitive difference in our economy and I will contribute to the digital economy through the “Open Minds Initiative”, said Tatenda Magetsi, Zimbabwe winner of the Blog4Dev Competition.
As the top blogger, Tatenda has won an all-expenses paid trip to attend the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington D.C. He will be joined by other winners from across Africa to further debate and exchange ideas on how to accelerate Africa’s development using the digital economy.
“The 2019 World Development Report reveals that technology has created more jobs than it has displaced. It has brought opportunity, paving the way to create new jobs, increase productivity, and improve public service delivery, said Mukami Kariuki, World Bank Country Manager for Zimbabwe, “The blog competition’s theme was therefore timely, and we are very grateful to all the contestants for their contributions to this important agenda.”
