Some 40 South Sudanese youth are expected to receive a two-week training workshop on how to develop mobile applications.

Mobile operator Zain South Sudan has partnered with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to support and fund the training initiative.

Dubbed the 'YouthMobile Applications Development Initiative', the programme aims to train youths over a period of two weeks using 20 Android mobile phones for practical sessions.

The training is based on the app inventor curriculum from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA), a joint statement from the two companies reveals.

Salah Khaled, UNESCO representative in South Sudan commenting about the initiative says, "Given the transformative effect of ICT and its potential to propel development and create

knowledge based economies, investing in the youth of South Sudan with mobile application development skills is literally placing wealth into their hands".

The Dev School of Kenya is expected to conduct the two week training workshop as well.

Furthermore, Zain South Sudan, UNESCO and the Dev School plan to organise competitions to award the best applications developed and extensively highlight the best applications, the statement notes.

Zain South Sudan chief executive officer, Basel Manasrah says, "We are proud to be part of this initiative with UNESCO and The Dev School to contribute to the development of the Youth in South Sudan.

"It is one of Zain South Sudan's core values to invest in the communities in which we operate, and investing in youth is investing in the future of the country."