Expanding Technology Accessibility in Zimbabwe

By Zimbabwe Flying Labs

Over the last 18 months, Zimbabwe Flying Labs, together with Precision Aerial, has taught young learners drone technology through Holiday Camps, Drone Clubs in schools, and Drones and Careers Workshops to expose them to the emerging and growing use cases of drones in a local and global context.

Since its inception, one of our goals has been to reach out to young learners across Zimbabwe. Too often, innovation, technology, and development in Zimbabwe are centered around Harare, the country's capital, and we want to change this regarding access to drone technology and related services. So we set out to expand our reach in Zimbabwe, and in April 2022, we organized and hosted our first Drone camp in Zimbabwe's second-largest city, Bulawayo. It was an exciting experience for our team and the young learners who attended the drone camp. We traveled over 400 km from Harare to bring a dynamic, fun-filled technology program to the community in Bulawayo. This camp was our 4th camp in Zimbabwe, but 1st one held in Bulawayo had 27 young learners attend the 1-day camp.

Our drone camps are designed to help young learners to discover the world of Aviation and the part that drones play in it, exploring different types of drones, use cases, and how drones are transforming the future of work. Thirty-three percent of the participants were girls, and 41 percent flew a drone for the first time at the drone camp.

The young learners were keen and quick to grasp the concepts of a flying drone. They did an obstacle course and tackled different drone exercises and drone racing. Our emphasis is always on making sure the young learners have fun while learning.

The Drone camps have proven to be a for- runner for our more in-depth Drones in Education courses, and we look forward to building local capacity and establishing drone clubs in schools around Zimbabwe.