The “eLearning Africa“
1st African High-Level Policy Maker and
Industry Leader Round Table and Retreat
“Accelerating the Building of ICT Infrastructures and Capacities
for African Educational Systems”
May 28, 2007, Nairobi

 

Background

eLearning Africa is an annual Pan-African conference held in a different country on the Continent every year. Because the host government is directly involved in the event's organisation, over the past three years, partnerships among key national stakeholders for ICT-enhanced education have evolved that extend across both East and West Africa. A concomitant result of eLearning Africa's success is that the event enjoys a strong representation of high-level government officials and decision makers among its thousand-plus attendees.

The annual “Round Table and Retreat” being initiated at this year’s eLearning Africa in Nairobi is a by-invitation-only, one-day event for high-level policy and business decision makers on ICT-enhanced education in Africa that provides an excellent platform for the invited guests to communicate and collaborate. The “Round Table 2007” is hosted and chaired by the Hon. Prof. George Saitoti, Minister of Education in Kenya.

Programme outline and objective

African Ministers of Education together with high-level policy makers and industry leaders will get together and take account of the challenges, achievements and strategies in building national ICT infrastructures for education and in providing the human capacities and services to exploit them efficiently.

African policy-making executives will present the status of their national programmes and strategies forward will be discussed among the key stakeholders from government and the private sector, both from the Continent and abroad.

The Round Table consists of three components:

  1. 1.The Ministers in charge will present a status analysis discussed in terms of the current ICT policy and programmes in education. This will be a 15 minutes presentation leading to a discussion on what works, challenges and options for the future. In their presentations, the Ministers will be expected to present best practices in ICT integration in education and training.
  2. 1.The “Round Table” will identify two initiatives as the African “Educational ICT Landmark Projects” that have relevance across the Continent and could be used for the promotion of ICT integration into education and training. The two initiatives will be presented at the Closing Plenary of eLearning Africa 2007.
  3. Based on the ministerial deliberations, the “Round Table” will issue a Communiqué highlighting opportunities and challenges the Continent faces in the use of ICTs in education and training.

It is hoped that this annual Round Table will establish a sustainable framework for the exchange of ideas between African Policy Makers who are involved in the development of policy and strategies for the integration of ICT in education and training. This Round Table will provide a set of recommendations based on the ministerial deliberations, on the current status and best practices from African countries and beyond.

ICT as the accelerator for the development of national educational systems

Today most experts recognise ICTs as a powerful accelerator for development. Therefore ICT-enhanced education programmes can be found in most African countries. Donors from Europe, the Americas, Australia, and recently also from India and China, are all contributing significantly with a multitude of programmes.

The first annual “High-Level Policy Maker and Industry Round Table and Retreat”, as part of the eLearning Africa conference, will provide an efficient and effective mechanism for African executives and policy makers to exchange views, experiences and lessons learnt and to identify best practices and the way forward.