The Phase I conclusion and Phase II Launch Meeting on the UNESCO/China-Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) project “Harnessing Technology for Quality Teacher Training in Africa” will be attended by ministerial and institutional representatives, the Permanent Delegations to UNESCO from the ten CFIT countries, the donor country China, and external evaluators.

The meeting will address the achievements and lessons learned in eight Phase I project countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Namibia, Congo, DR Congo, Liberia, Tanzania, and Uganda. The meeting will also launch the Phase II of the projects, in the Phase I countries, and two additional countries: Togo and Zambia.  

In the first phase of the project, over 100 training workshops were organized and the capacity of approximately 10,000 educators were strengthened.  In addition, over 230 teacher training modules and policy documents were revised or developed, and have been institutionalized. Over 2,400 pieces of equipment has been purchased and installed, seven online teaching and learning platforms and three digital libraries were established, linking over 30 teacher-training institutions.

The CFIT project was launched in 2012 with a budget of $8 million donated by the Chinese government for a four-year period ending in 2016. The Chinese government is providing an additional $4 million to extend the project for a second phase from 2017 to 2018. The project is one of UNESCO’s initiatives to accelerate progress towards Goal 4 (Quality Education) and Goal 9 (Innovation) in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Key teacher training institutes enabled

At the end of the project, it is expected that the capacity of the selected key teacher education/training institutions of target countries will be enhanced. More specifically:

• existing pre-service programmes will be strengthened, particularly through Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-supported blended training programmes and successful ICT-supported innovations;
• teachers’ continuous in-service professional development will be strengthened, particularly through blended learning modalities and successful ICT supported innovations;
• the capacity of teacher trainers with ICT competencies to improve the quality of teaching and learning will be enhanced;
• the networks of teacher education/training institutions for promoting knowledge sharing on effective strategies and teaching practices will be improved.

The implementation in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Namibia was completed in December 2015, and the implementation in Congo, DR Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda was completed in February 2017. External evaluations were also carried out and the results will be presented at the meeting.