• Morocco plans to open a new YouCode campus in Errachidia to expand access to coding and digital skills training.
• The campus will train about 100 young people annually through a two-year intensive program in programming and digital technologies.
• The initiative supports Morocco’s Digital Morocco 2030 strategy, which aims to train 45,000 digital talents annually by 2030.

Moroccan authorities plan to open a new YouCode campus in Errachidia, located in the Drâa-Tafilalet region. The initiative aims to expand young people's access to digital skills and increase coding training opportunities in less centralized parts of the country. Authorities formalized the project through an agreement signed by several public institutions and civil society organizations during the inaugural edition of the “Rally IA Future Lab,” which took place from June 17 to June 19.

The partnership brings together the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, regional authorities in Drâa-Tafilalet and the LEET INITIATIVE association. The future campus will offer a two-year intensive training program in programming and digital technologies. The facility will enroll about 50 learners per cohort and train nearly 100 young people each year. The program will primarily target young people from the region, including school dropouts who demonstrate digital skills or strong potential in technology-related fields.

National Strategy to Develop Digital Talent

The initiative forms part of Morocco’s Digital Morocco 2030 strategy, particularly its pillar dedicated to digital talent development. The government aims to ensure that the labor market has access to skills that match the needs of a rapidly transforming economy.

Under this strategy, Morocco has set several targets for 2026 and 2030. The country plans to train 20,000 digital talents annually starting in 2026 and increase that figure to 45,000 annually by 2030. In parallel, authorities plan to retrain 26,000 people each year for digital professions beginning in 2026. The government plans to raise that figure to 50,000 people annually from 2030 onward.

To achieve these objectives, authorities are deploying bootcamps, adapting vocational training programs to labor market needs, supporting the creation of coding schools across the kingdom and developing certification systems for digital skills.

A Youth Employment Challenge

These initiatives come as digital transformation continues to reshape labor markets worldwide. According to the World Bank, about 230 million jobs across Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.

Meanwhile, youth employment remains a structural challenge in Morocco. Data from the High Commission for Planning (HCP) show that Morocco’s national unemployment rate stood at 13% in 2025, compared with 13.3% a year earlier. However, national averages conceal significant disparities among younger age groups.

The unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 reached 37.2%, according to HCP data. The same source reported that 19.1% of university graduates remained unemployed, while underemployment affected 10.9% of that group.

Isaac K. Kassouwi