Canada Reaches Out to Africa with eLA
 Elaine McManus
 The second annual International Conference on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Development, Education and Training will be held in Kenya in May 2007. “eLearning Africa” (eLA), the world’s largest international eLearning conference, is held in a different African location each May and attracts over 830 participants from more than 80 countries representing every continent.
By Elaine McManus, Editor, Ca@eLA Newsletter
The advent of eLA in 2006, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia established the conference as the largest and most international annual, capacity-building event on ICT-enhanced education and training ever held on the African continent. The conference brought together participants and 200 expert speakers from countries around the globe, including Canada.
Canada’s participation in eLA 2007 is shaping up to be even stronger! Already, there are more than 30 Canadians planning to attend the event and 18 to 20 Canadian experts are expected to speak. With the establishment of positive partnerships, and collaboration among various committed organizations, significant strides have been made in securing funds to send clients and African partners to the conference who otherwise would not be able to attend. Additional funds are being secured for bursaries, travel and lodgings for as many as 70 Africans to attend the conference, and seed funding has been received from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to enable five selected Canadian exhibitors to participate in the event. The exhibition space and selection of Canadian exhibitors is being coordinated by the Canadian Council on Africa, with assistance from CeLEA in establishing the exhibition selection criteria.
The theme of this year’s conference, Building Infrastructures and Capacities to Reach out to the Whole of Africa, reflects the significant efforts of African countries to set up national and regional ICT infrastructures to create accessible education, training and services for all. This year’s conference will bring together high-level policy makers, industry leaders, R&D experts and practitioners with their counterparts from Asia, the Americas, and Europe to address the challenges, achievements, and strategies regarding trans-continental cooperation schemes for Africa.
Consistent with the 2007 theme, the event itself will reach out beyond the conference center and will feature large-scale lectures in Kenyan universities as well as two break-out workshops to address the needs in rural areas and regional institutions.
eLearning Africa is organized by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif and focuses on ICT for development, education and training in Africa. eLearning Africa (eLA) will be held from May 28 – 30, 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya.
For more information, visit www.elearning-africa.com. To submit articles or commentary, please contact our editor, Elaine McManus, elaine.claritycommunications@gmail.com.
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