On the invitation of the Government of Zambia and in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic  Education, the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Mr Qian Tang launched the UNESCO China Funds-In-Trust Project (CFIT) for Zambia on 8th June, 2017 in Lusaka.

Mr Tang referred to the CFIT project as a pillar in UNESCO’s approach to teacher development in Africa and commended Zambia for joining this initiative and thereby making a strong statement on its commitment to the implementation of the target on teachers in the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 4 on Education.

The Hon. Minister of General Education, Dr. Dennis Wanchinga and the Assistant Director General for Education were joined by  the Hon. Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Nkandu Luo. Both Ministries of Education will benefit from the CFIT project.

Launched in 2012, the UNESCO China funds-in-trust Project aims to improve the training of teachers in Africa through capacity building of teacher training institutions. It relies on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the training of teachers and learning. Zambia is joining 7 other African countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Togo) as beneficiaries of this project.

The CFIT Project in Zambia is titled ‘’Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Education Quality Gap in Africa: Equipping Teacher Educators and Teachers with 21st Century Skills for enhanced and efficient education service delivery in Zambia‘’ and aims to establish ICT Teacher Education Centers of Excellence, develop capacities for ICTs, create an ICT platform to strengthen networking, among others.

For more information, please contact: c.medel-anonuevo(at)unesco.org.