The Kaduna State Government launched the Click-On Kaduna Programme in 2018 with a vision to raise young people that will leverage opportunities within the digital space and position Kaduna as a regional hub for technology innovation. Four years on, the programme remains committed to driving this vision through the Data Science Fellowship programme. The fellowship programme was adjudged by many as a phenomenal success after its first year, and these successes have been a direct result of the seamless collaboration between the state government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics and the implementation partner, the Natview Foundation for Technology Innovation.
Thirty youths were selected to participate in the 6-month-long programme, and many of these young people are currently taking the world by storm and making the programme organisers proud – proving that investment in human capital will always pay the desired dividends. I will be sharing more about our 2021DSFP success stories in another blog. Today’s article is about our desire to raise the bar with the 2022 Data Science Fellowship Programme tagged DSFP 2.0.
DSFP 2.0 was officially announced on the 31st of March 2022 at the Kaduna Datathon competition – an event designed as a follow-up activity to DSFP 1.0. The announcement took social media by surprise as so many people never saw it coming. A lot of hard work went into the planning of DSFP 2.0 as we had the burning desire to make the programme even better this year. This was not the time to rest on our laurels. Last year, the DSFP team conducted exit interviews with each member of the graduating cohort to get their views on how the programme can be improved as we could not afford to lower the bar for the next cohort. We took out time to analyze the lessons learnt from DSFP 1.0 and design strategies to improve on this year’s programme.
Applications into DSFP 2.0 was launched on 20th April 2022, and the portal received about 5,000 applications from people across the state by the close of application. It was truly exciting to see so many talents put together compelling applications to convince our selection committee. You could tell that a lot of them did their homework before applying to the programme.
The team did a great job of helping prospective applicants understand what would be required of them to stand the chance of joining the programme this year. From virtual and physical information sessions to radio tours, we were consistent in our message to the audience who cared to listen that this programme has established itself as a prestigious fellowship and only outstanding talents who can show their mettle and prove their worth will stand a chance to be selected among the 40 fellows for DSFP 2.0.
After sifting through thousands of essays and video applications, the selection committee used a point system to select 250 applicants to advance to the test phase of the application process. The computer-based test held at the Kaduna State University further eliminated 124 applicants who could not meet the average performance score.
A hundred and twenty-six applicants received email invites to participate in the DSFP 2.0 interviews. For 4 days, our esteemed panellists who were selected from various Data Science disciplines did the diligent and meticulous job of getting the best fit for the programme using a point system. At the end of the entire selection process, 40 young people got a phone call and an email invite to join a Zoom meeting where eventually, the big news was announced to them.
All through the application and selection process, the DSFP 2.0 team was committed to ensuring that the programme retained its unique attribute of being open, fair and transparent. This attribute was also used in the recruitment process for the instructors and co-instructors. This year’s fellowship programme will be handled by a team of instructors who are leading professionals with years of experience in data science, machine learning, big data, artificial intelligence and public health – just the perfect mix of people to bring the best out of our fellows and prepare them for the task ahead.
Classes are on and the NFTI team has put everything in place to elevate the classroom experience for our fellows. The DSFP 2.0 cohort will also benefit from even more impactful Guest Lectures as we will be bringing in industry leaders and key policymakers to share their life experiences.
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