February 2003 Insights Education Issue #1

Learning to share

Institutions, researchers, development partners, the private sector and civil society organisations (CSOs) all have a role to play in supporting governments in the use of ICTs to improve the quality of education.

Imfundo, a recent initiative from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), is working with a variety of partners to consider how the full range of ICTs can be used in education. Imfundo’s work has a particular focus on teacher education and educational management systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Businesses, universities and CSOs are invited to use their resources to support Imfundo’s activities through their ‘ResourceBank’ of pledges. Contributions vary from equipment and software licenses to audio production and technical assistance. Imfundo’s online ‘KnowledgeBank’ (KB) gives government officials, practitioners, researchers and teachers the opportunity to share information, advice and lessons learnt. The KB includes a database of ICTs education activities in Africa and commissioned research reports in key areas such as gender and ICTs in Africa and intends to provide links to other online resources for teachers. Finally, Imfundo is forming partnerships with Ministries of Education as part of DFID’s support to education in SSA.

Rather than promote particular ICTs, Imfundo works in-country with partner governments to help them to identify their vision for using ICTs to support education and explore the possibilities within their own particular context. To help this process, Imfundo, with its partners, is developing and delivering training which, alongside study visits, is aimed at helping ministries and educators gain a practical understanding of the ways in which ICTs can be used within education. Working in partnership with African stakeholders, Imfundo is involved in the development of understandings of open source approaches (software that can be freely distributed, modified and used) as a mechanism for sustainability of ICTs in education.

Another area of work is with teachers who need a basic grounding in ICTs skills such as word-processing and use of the Internet and knowing how these skills can be used to aid their work. To help teachers make the most of ICTs as tools, either in their own learning or to support that of others, Imfundo is evaluating existing training programmes in ICTs skills and considering their relevance for educators working in different African contexts.

With support from its partners, Imfundo is currently working in:

• Limpopo Province, South Africa, with the Ministry of Education and DFID to develop and put in place a knowledge and information strategy. Imfundo is also working with local and international partners in the province to support the development of cost-effective teacher training
• Ghana with the Ghana Education Service and its Teacher Education Division on an open and distance-learning strategy to standardise pre and in-service teacher training
• Ethiopia with partners such as the Forum on Street Children - Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation to explore ways in which ICTs can assist the learning of street children.

Caroline Pontefract
Imfundo
The Department for International Development (DFID)
1 Palace Street,
London SW1E 5HE, UK

T +44 (0)20 7023 0980
F +44 (0)20 7023 0976
c-pontefract@dfid.gov.uk
www.imfundo.org

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