WeGO shares Seoul’s expertise with African city officials at annual training program

November 20, 2021

SEOUL – City officials from four African cities took part in WeGO’s annual training program organized jointly with the Seoul Human Resources Development Center (SHRDC) to learn about smart city policies and Seoul’s best practice from September 27 to October 8.

Conducted since 2011, this training program is typically a week-long offline course where participants learn about the latest trends in smart city development and Seoul’s experience through lectures and visits to smart facilities. 

In this year’s online program, 16 city officials from four WeGO member cities Abuja (Nigeria), Kampala (Uganda), Tubah and Batibo (Cameroun) received lectures on Seoul’s smart city policies including the Smart Seoul Data of Things, the blockchain-based mVoting, the Smart Seoul Map,and the Seoul Open Data Plaza. The trainees were then tasked with creating action plans for their respective cities, which they presented at the end of the training period. Upon successful completion of their training, the city officials were given certificates.

This latest initiative to strengthen African local governments’ capabilities is in line with WeGO’s launch of the African Smart Cities Network (AFSCN) in June earlier this year. With the AFSCN and support from WeGO’s newest Regional Office in Africa, WeGO is planning on holding more similar activities next year.

The Seoul Training Program with SHRDC is only one of WeGO’s annual training programs where WeGO shares Korean smart city expertise. From November 29 to December 10, WeGO is holding a training course with the Korean National Information Society Agency (NIA) on ‘Citizen-Centric Digital Transformation and Smart City Initiatives’. More information on WeGO’s training programs can be found here.