UNESCO and UNESCO IICBA organized a session entitled ‘ICT Innovations for Building African Teaching Capacity’ during Innovation Africa 2015 in Kampala, Uganda with the goal of discussing the importance of teacher training in rolling out ICT in Education initiatives.

Under the guiding principles of the Sustainable Development Goals 4 on education and Goal 9 on innovation, as well as the UNESCO-Qingdao Declaration on ICT and Post-2015 Education, the session saw participants deliberating on various issues concerning ICT integration in teacher training in their respective countries. The session was attended by over 60 participants, including: Hon. Ministers of DRC, South Africa, Uganda, and Ministerial staff members from Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as representatives from the private sector.

The session opened with a contextualization of the newly adopted SDGs 4 – Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning; and 9 – Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, and the key decisions stated in the UNESCO-Qingdao Declaration. In May 2015 over 42 African Ministers and Vice-Ministers agreed on the importance of Open Educational Resources (OER), quality learning, lifelong learning pathways, online learning innovations, quality assurance and recognition of online learning, monitoring and evaluation, accountability, and international cooperation were agreed as the crucial elements on unleashing the full potential of ICT for Education. UNESCO’s existing ICT for teacher training interventions in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda were also introduced.

During the meeting in Kampala, participants highlighted the importance of addressing quality assurance and qualification of training in ICT in African countries. Representatives from African countries also highlighted the importance of helping parents to acquire digital literacy skills, which would in turn facilitate the learning of their children; and the measurement of impact of ICT usage in Education. UNESCO’s function as a standard setter provides frameworks to assist countries to establish benchmarks and standards that fit their contexts. Also, UNESCO’s community learning centres bring technology in households to support the learning of parents. In addition, the UNESCO ICT in Education Toolkit, UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers, and UNESCO-UIS Guide to Measuring ICT in Education are useful tools to help Member States integrate ICT in Education in their respective countries.

Participants also reflected on the importance of South-South Cooperation, especially in learning from neighbouring countries. The UNESCO-China Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) project which supports teacher training institutions via ICT in 8 African countries serves as a good example of such cooperation and peer learning among project countries. The CFIT study tours in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and China in 2015 joined by close to 60 representatives from the CFIT countries witnessed the value and usefulness of learning from the experiences of countries with relatively similar socio-economic background.

Sufficient equipment, connectivity, and electricity form an enabling environment for ICT integration in teacher training, however this remains a considerable challenge in many countries. UNESCO’s function in networking and international cooperation has assisted countries to mobilize resources from the private sector via Public-private partnership. For instance, in the CFIT projects in Côte d’Ivoire and Congo, the private sectors have equipped CFIT training centres to scale up the project in the country.

The session provided ample opportunities for participants to interact with UNESCO in expressing countries’ needs and expectations, and how UNESCO, with its mandate of working closely with Member States / Governments, can provide support to and seek solutions with countries.

This session took place during the Innovation Africa 2015 event, which is an annual event for representatives from the Ministry of African Government, the public sector, and the private sector to discuss trends and opportunities in ICT for Education.