In a ceremony held on 15th March 2023, 75 staff members of National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) graduated at Clarke International University after the completion of various ICDL modules. The ICDL training program was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank-Uganda under their Social Corporate Responsibility umbrella.
The training was limited to staff members from the Kampala region, but there is hope that over 2500 staff members working at the NWSC-Kampala branch will receive ICDL training and certification in selected modules in the near future.
During the ceremony, one staff member of NWSC expressed gratitude for the opportunity to gain experience and learn new skills. She revealed that some of them had thought they already had a good understanding of computers, but the ICDL course proved them wrong. She added that the skills learned during the training will not only benefit them personally but will also speed up service delivery at the corporation.
Michael Niyitegeka, the ICDL Africa-Uganda Country Manager, also spoke at the ceremony, emphasizing the generosity of Standard Chartered Bank-Uganda. He explained that the Head of Consumer, Private & Business Banking, Mr. Moses Rutahigwa, had quietly registered for the ICDL course during the Covid-19 induced lockdown. After completing the course, he shared the idea with his team at the bank, who decided to offer the opportunity to their loyal clients at NWSC.
Mr. Moses Rutahigwa has promised to send more of his team for ICDL training because he believes digitization of Uganda begins with training everyday people. The General Manager Kampala Water, Eng. Mahmood Lutaaya, also promised to make ICDL training and certification an essential requirement for his staff.
“I had not understood this program at the start, but now I can clearly see the benefits from the skills gained by my staff. I will arrange to send another cohort of at least 100 staff members immediately so that we can all move together. The Kampala branch alone has over 2500 staff members. We have started small, but we will surely work together to ensure more of our people benefit from this program,” said Eng. Mahmood Lutaaya.
The ICDL training program has proven to be beneficial for the first cohort of NWSC staff who graduated from Clarke International University. Thanks to the generous sponsorship from Standard Chartered Bank-Uganda, more staff members will be able to receive ICDL training and certification, contributing to the digitization of Uganda.
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