E-learning Africa 2022 highlights
A sense of normalcy returned at this year’s edition of eLearning Africa in Kigali (Rwanda) after the event was postponed more than two years due to COVID-19. Enabel is a proud partner. More than 20 Enabel experts and 7 partners attended the event. This global forum was an opportunity to exchange and reflect on good practices in education, training and skills development in Africa.
Did you miss this conference? Here are 4 highlights.
Pandemic, yes. But what now?
We have all witnessed e-learning practices increase due to the pandemic. The workshops and sessions that took place during the three days of events resonated and highlighted the importance of sharing good practices to develop game-changing solutions and renew some perspectives on e-learning.
As highlighted by Prof. Mogobe Ramose during the closing debate, “education in Africa today is like a rootless tree, a dangling participle without a main sentence. Education for liberation is an ethical imperative to remedy this situation.” This conference gave a fascinating insight into how technology, by assisting learning and training, can lead to change and development throughout Africa.
“E-learning is no longer a luxury today but a reality that is imposed on us. We are not alone, we see that the whole of Africa is working on this subject. All countries are at the same stage: we are all trying to find the best way to develop digital courses.” Mohamed Amor, Head of the State Human Resources Management System Division for the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, Morocco.
A (successful) workshop on digital policies
Our team of experts was delighted to facilitate an open workshop at the conference. More than 40 people participated to this workshop focusing on digital policies on TVET, governance, basic and higher education. We took this opportunity to brainstorm with participants from various countries and sectors on the factors of success and failure in the implementation of a digital learning policy.
“Through the exhibition space, workshops and meetings with other delegations, I could gather a lot of information about training platforms for civil servants to improve our own.” – Houda Rhiouani, Executive in the Continuing Education Department of the Human Resources Directorate for the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fishing, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Morocco.
“The networking between the participants in general and the Enabel staff in particular was very useful in terms of knowledge sharing. After 6 years of working on D4D in Enabel, I am happy to see we have made real progress and impact in some of our partner countries! With the presentations and workshop of Enabel we have really put Enabel in the front seat in terms of D4D. I was glad to be part of it.” – Bart Cornille, D4D Expert, Uganda.
Enabel’s Junior experts shining at the learning battle
During this 1-hour event, participants were invited to explain their views on e-learning in a short pitch. A great opportunity for two of our Junior Experts to share their simple but important “power to the teachers” message. We are therefore particularly proud of Paulien Caeyers and Astrid Génard, who stood up and shared their vision on the importance of valuing the teacher as learning expert. Indeed, African teachers were underrepresented at the conference.
“For sustainable change, we need to include teachers from all sectors. Valuing the teachers is not only asking for their opinion but also valuing them in our society for their work. That could be a great start. Power to the teachers!”
Astrid Génard, Junior Expert in Digital Skills and Lifelong Learning, Enabel Rwanda
A reinforced Enabel network of practitioners
Prior to the conference, we gathered all Enabel experts and partner staff in a workshop to share good practices and experiences in digitalisation, including important insights from the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA). Following this workshop, during our digital safari, delegations discovered some of Kigali’s top digital venues (Irembo, Rwanda Polytechnic Multimedia Lab & Rwanda TVET Training Institute, Norrsken Hub and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences).
This kind of event highlights the fact that building more and more bridges between countries and stakeholders is crucial. Models have to be rethought and new models have to be co-built while enhancing our efforts in digitalisation.
“eLearning Africa gave me the opportunity to present the lesson learned and good practices on using digital tools in TVET courses for our Enabel project ACFPT in Burundi. It was also an excellent occasion to meet Enabel team members from Morocco, Uganda, Congo… working on D4D. In-person conversations allow you to discuss things more profoundly. And of course, the conference was a lot more fun than all those videocalls we have had for the past years. We feel like an actual team now!” – Paulien Caeyers, Junior Expert Digitalisation of Vocational and Technical Training, Enabel Burundi
