The Ministry of Youth and ICT in collaboration with the Smart Africa Secretariat, on February 10th, 2017 organised the consultation and validation workshop to discuss Smart Cities Blueprint.    Under the Smart Africa Agenda, that aims at accelerating the sustainable socio‐economic development  in  Africa  through  ICT,  Rwanda  leads  the  Smart  Cities/villages  flagship among others. It is in this line, a draft Smart and Sustainable Cities Blueprint to serve as a model has been developed in collaborations with our partners in the sector.   The very workshop assembled experts in different areas as urban development and planning, environment, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators, construction and transport, etc.   Speaking to the media, Honourable Nsengimana Jean Philbert, the minister for youth and ICT, said the workshop provided a platform for all concerned people to review the smart Africa cities blueprint draft, and a way forward for what needs to be done. “The biggest thing that came out of this workshop is the clear vision of what we want from smart cities. We talked about connectivity, security, digital service delivery, efficiently managed utilities, environment protection, health, education, and the list goes on. Everything that makes the lives of city dwellers good,” he told The New Times. Hamadoun Toure, the executive secretary of Smart Africa Secretariat, said the initiative offers huge opportunities to address some of the biggest challenges such as youth unemployment among others.