African Drone and Data Academy

The African Drone and Data Academy (ADDA) was born in 2020 when a gap in skills was identified in African youth relating to drone and data technology. It is funded by UNICEF and was initially in partnership with Virginia Tech. (the drone module curriculum developer), Furman University (the Geographic Information Systems curriculum developer) and is hosted at the Malawi University of Science and Technology. The ADDA runs several programmes which are fully funded such as the Certificate of Drone and Data Technology (CDDT) levels 1 & 2, level 1 being online and level 2 in person, Junior Engineers Academy and Climate Incubation and Educational Program. The CDDT is ADDA's flagship programme and has graduated over 700 students across African countries.

The CDDT mainly targets youths aged 18 - 24, the junior Academy is designed for 10 - 17 year olds, while the Climate Incubation and Educational Program targets youths aged 10 - 24. The Malawi University of Science and Technology periodically advertises new ADDA cohorts through all their social media pages and anyone interested, given they qualify can apply to learn at the ADDA, fully funded. All the programs are short and students get to learn ranging from two weeks to five weeks.