From 1-3 December 2021, IICBA participated in the 13th Policy Dialogue Forum, organized by International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Rwanda. With more than a hundred participants, the forum took place in Kigali, Rwanda and on-line. Dr Valentine Uwamariya, Minister of Education, Rwanda, opened the forum under the theme” Innovation in teacher policy and practice for education recovery”.

On 2 December 2021, #IICBA in collaboration with Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) organized a session on “Teacher Development through Digital Skills and Open Learning Opportunities in Africa.” The objectives were to share best practices and country experiences from Africa and to discuss how digitization and openness of education and teacher development can transform the education sector landscape in three areas: teaching, learning and collaboration; gender responsive STEM e-content development and e-assessment; and accelerating teacher capacity development towards inclusive and equitable quality education. Mr Saliou Sall, Senior Programme Coordinator, UNESCO IICBA, facilitated the panel discussion and moderated the session.

In her opening speech, Dr Yumiko Yokozeki, Director of UNESCO IICBA, underlined the crucial importance of digital skills as well as open and distance learning in creating learning opportunities for all, thus achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). She stressed the need to tackle the problem of the digital divide in Africa which has now been exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic, and the need to equip teachers with digital skills.

Dr Yumiko shared the best practices and achievements of UNESCO IICBA in collaboration with other partners like GPE KFIT and UNESCO regional offices in Africa, as well as some best practices in Rwanda and Cameroon.  

         - IICBA developed a module on Distance learning for Teachers, Radio and Television Personnel in ECOWAS designed to equip teachers, Ministry officials, and radio and television personnel with skills to effectively and efficiently facilitate learning in distance environment.

-  a platform called Imagine Learning Africa, containing 10 modules developed by IICBA to support Open Distance blended learning in five west African countries.
-  IICBA developed online modules for TVET teachers for East African countries. The modules are on 21st century skills for TVET teachers and on how to conduct ODL with TVET

-  Le programme de “candidat libre” in Rwanda and “external candidate” in Cameroon have enabled non formal learners to enroll and sit for national exam

Five speakers, Nicolas Albouze, Blackboard Regional Vice-president DACH, Temechegn Engida, program officer and ICT specialist, UNESCO IICBA, Ms Kaddy Bah, Principal Education Officer, Science and Technology Directorate, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Gambia, Dr Bernard Nkuyubwatsi, Project Officer, UNESCO IICBA, and Mr. Léon N. Mugenzi, Head of Teacher Development and Management, REB, shared their experiences, best practices and recommendations on digitization and openness of education and teacher development.

Facilitated by Davide Ruscelli, project officer, UNESCO Dakar, and Dr Christine Niyizamwiyitira, Head of Department of ICT in Education, REB, participants interacted with the speakers through the Q&A part of the session.

“This forum can even be the right time to formulate policies and strategies to achieve SDG4.” Said Dr Nelson Mbarushimana, Director General of REB, concluding the session.

For any questions or comments regarding this article, please do not hesitate to contact Uwingabiye Immaculee Kevine at ik.uwingabiye@unesco.org

You can also see updates and resources from a variety of IICBA events and programs on its website: http://www.iicba.unesco.org/  and its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/iicba

Figure 1: Dr Yumiko Yokozeki Director of UNESCO IICBA delivering the opening remark for the session

Figure 2 At the panel, the session moderator, Mr. Saliou Saliou,  and three representatives of the REB

Figure 3 A partial view of in-person participants following IICBA’s presentation