Pacific workshop breaks new ground: Merging traditional wisdom with digital innovation for skills development for women.
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) #COL4D and the Pacific Centre for Flexible and Open Learning for Development (PACFOLD) recently held a three-day regional workshop on Women, Skills and Resilient Livelihoods in the Small States of the Pacific in Nadi, Fiji. The event brought together 25 participants from nine countries – Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu (mostly from the non-governmental, not-for-profit sector but also inclusive of six government officials from five countries). The expected outcome was the generation of several new project ideas.
The workshop provided a space for both government and civil society to hold critical discussions on challenges facing girls, women, and persons with disabilities in their various nations. This led to deliberations on ideas that could address some of those challenges. For instance, drug use and violence emerged as challenges where training on peer-based support, counselling and health education was identified as an emergent skill that could provide young women with livelihood opportunities while also addressing a social issue.
The discussions on the potential of technology facilitating social innovations that can create opportunities for skills training and resilient livelihoods were another highlight of the workshop. The case studies that were presented gave new ideas for scalable solutions where participants could visualise and think of adapting some solutions for their own context. This activity is part of a regional project on open, flexible, and distance learning supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand.
Ideation invited participants to reframe challenges in skilling and building resilience. Individually and then collectively, they suggested solutions to shared problems. Building on a foundation of human rights, leadership and financial literacy training, participants co-created targeted interventions into outputs with clear possible outcomes for context-relevant lifelong learning for girls, women and persons with disabilities. One participant’s feedback shows that the approaches used were helpful: “Day 3 was my best day because we were able to solve problems by reframing them from different angles and providing numerous solutions. I find group discussion is the best tool to get work done.”
Dr Karen Nyangara, COL’s Adviser: Gender, commented, “The approaches used during the workshop were new to some participants. COL and PACFOLD kept participants fully engaged and gave them the platform to hear each other’s perspectives on shared issues, rethink solutions to societal challenges and collaboratively plan for social innovation.”
#COL4D #WomenEmpowerment #DigitalInnovation #TraditionalWisdom #SkillsDevelopment #GenderEquality #PacificRegion #TechForGood
#SustainableDevelopment #DigitalInclusion #EmpoweringWomen
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Empowering Education in Togo!
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Togo @EducationTg, in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) @COL4D, recently hosted a workshop to develop a business model for open schooling and teacher training through open and distance learning (ODL).
Key highlights:
• 40 experts from government ministries and higher education institutions joined forces to discuss planning, IT infrastructure, financial assessment, techno-pedagogy, and more.
• Togo’s Minister of Education, Professor Dodzi Komla Kokoroko, inspired participants with his vision, asking, “Why not open schooling for English teaching in Togo?”
Since the 2023-2024 school year, English has been introduced in preschool and primary schools—marking a bold shift as Togo, now a Commonwealth member, strengthens its global ties.
Dr Evode Mukama, COL Adviser: Teacher Education, emphasised the importance of teacher training, saying, “For students to develop English proficiency, their teachers must have these skills first.”
With COL’s support, the Ministry has already developed an ODL policy and strategy. This new business model will ensure the resources and framework are in place to bring these plans to fruition.
#COL4D #ODL #Education #Innovation #DistanceLearning #EnglishLanguage #Togo
Dates used: 22 Nov 2024
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Free Webinar: Empowering African Teachers through Open Educational Resources.
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) #COL4D invites teachers, teacher educators, and education stakeholders to a free webinar focused on the potential of Open Educational Resources (OER) to transform teacher training and professional development in Africa.
The webinar is co-hosted by COL and five Schools of Education from four countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which are currently collaborating on a project towards OER for inclusive pre-service teacher education. The Wits School of Education is leading this activity.
The webinar will feature experienced professionals specialising in teacher education, digital learning, and OER initiatives. They bring diverse expertise in research, training, and policy development within educational contexts in sub-Saharan Africa.
Webinar details:
Date: Friday 22 November 2024
Time: 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM GMT | 12:00 AM – 02:30 AM Pacific Time
To register for this webinar, please click here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9_sv2uv-TaGC-ByjF4CgJQ#/registration
More information on the webinar can be accessed here: commonwealthoflearning.info/EmpoweringAfricanTeachersOER
#educationforall #TeacherTraining #OpenEducationalResources #OER #ProfessionalDevelopment #digitallearning #inclusiveeducation #africaeducation #SubSaharanAfrica #Commonwealthoflearning #Webinar #teachereducation #Webinar #teachereducation
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