MTN has announced that it is backing UNESCO's General History of Africa (GHA) project to rewrite Africa's history from an African perspective with one million US dollars over the next two years.

The initiative, which started in 1964, aims to put together the continent's revised history without discriminatory prejudices and in a way commonly known and accessible to the public at large.

MTN's contribution will go towards the elaboration of the ninth volume. The mobile operator says this support is in line with its commitment to promote access to quality education on the continent, particularly through the digitisation of learning and teaching.

Chris Maroleng, Executive for Corporate Affairs at MTN Group emphasises the value of the second phase GHA project.

"By supporting the GHA project, MTN is participating in a crucial education initiative which is aimed at re-appropriating the interpretation and writing of Africa's history, as well as emphasising the contribution of African cultures, past and present, to the history of humanity. MTN recognises the pivotal role of education in building a better continent for future generations. And as a proudly African company, we are keen to support like-minded efforts."

The first phase of the GHA project was concluded in 1999.

350 experts on African history, linguistics, fine arts, performing arts, musicology and natural sciences have engaged over a 35-year period to produce eight volumes of content in 12 languages during the initial phase.

Maroleng says the project complements several projects aimed at the digitisation of education in Africa the Middle East. These initiatives have been targeted at countries such as Cameroon, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Congo Brazzaville.

"We helped schools safeguard revenues in Guinea Bissau by developing a secure Mobile Money fees system, and the MTN Internet Bus is still touring the farmlands of Uganda. In Swaziland, MTN's Educare programme has been broadcasting math and science lessons over the airwaves, and it's become a huge hit with the youth. MTN is also contributing much-needed financing to the government in Uganda in its national drive to fully digitise secondary school learning material. And in the Ivory Coast, MTN partnered with Succes Assuré to make quality education content easily accessible. Learners receive free online access to curricula, educational videos, courses, tests, previous exams, exercises and model answers. While in Cyprus MTN Read was launched in 2016. It is an app with a digital library offering more than 70 eBooks spanning primary and secondary school curricula."

Ali Moussa-Iye, Chief: History and Memory for Dialogue at UNESCO has welcomed MTN's support on behalf of UNESCO.

"The commitment by MTN to sponsor the GHA initiative will help to further develop a Pan-African perspective of the history and prospects of the continent and its diasporas, based on scientific findings. We are proud to partner with a company which has demonstrated active corporate citizenship in Africa, particularly in the field of knowledge development and education,"