Tech heaven: Drone academy students help map out
Africa's future
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[January 30, 2020] By
Eldson Chagara
LILONGWE (Reuters) - For Ethiopian
aeronautical engineer Lydia Elias, building and piloting a drone to
support humanitarian and development projects on the continent of her
birth has been a lifelong dream.
Now, as a student at Africa's first drone academy, she is about to make
it come true.
The institute is in Malawi, and builds on the work of a pilot scheme
launched in 2017 with support from U.N. children's fund UNICEF, in which
drones have been used to deliver medical supplies, monitor crops and map
cholera outbreaks.
As drones become smaller, more reliable and more affordable, their role
in such projects - on a continent prone to natural disasters and dotted
with isolated communities - seems certain to increase.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Jan/30/images/ads/current/peggys_sda_LUAL_2018.png)
"Aeronautical engineers are very few in my country," said Elias, 23, as
she set off to practice piloting a drone.
"After learning I will try to teach my people. I have an aerospace club,
so I will try to transfer this knowledge to (colleagues) in my country."
She and 25 others from across Africa are the first batch of students at
the academy, which opened outside the capital Lilongwe this month.
They are learning how to make and fly drones, collect and analyze data
over a 12-week course.
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![](../images/013020pics/busine23.jpg)
An instructor teaches students how to assemble a drone at the newly
opened African Drone and Data Academy in Lilongwe, Malawi, January
24, 2020. Picture taken January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Eldson Chagara
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Jan/30/images/ads/current/xamis_lda_PET_2020.png)
Other students share Elias's excitement.
"I have been able to create this drone,...which I made with my own hands," said
Tanzanian Emmanuel Nasolwa, 26, beaming with joy as he showed off his work. "I
feel like ...I am going to do more things from this course."
The academy plans to train 150 students to build and pilot drones by 2021,
UNICEF said.
Financing from the Fund's partners has provided tuition to the first cohort of
26. It is expected that by 2022, the academy will run a tuition-free two-year
master's degree program in drone technology.
"This decade that has just started is going to be digital and to help young
people ...learn about drones will be an incredible step forward, not only for
Malawi but for many other African countries," said Rudolf Schwenk, UNICEF Malawi
country representative.
(Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by John Stonestreet)
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