Southern Africa: SADC Initiates Capacity-Building Project in Education

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has embarked on a five- year capacity building project in distance education.
The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) project is aimed at addressing educational challenges faced by the region.
SADC Executive Secretary Dr Tomaz Salomao and African Development Bank Vice president Zeinab El Bakri signed a grant agreement to this end, valued at US$22.6 million.
The SADC Secretariat on Monday said the project will develop and harmonise open and distance learning across the region, allowing member countries to use ODL effectively.
This, the secretariat said, would promote regional cooperation and integration through sharing facilities, expertise and material resources.
The project will also focus on strategically developing four educational areas namely Primary, Secondary, Technical/Vocational and Tertiary Education.
This would be achieved through regional policy development, strategic planning and other operational frameworks.
The secretariat added that two centres of specialisation would be established to enhance exellence in ODL delivery, materials, curriculum development and research.
National ODL experts and authorities are to participate in decision-making regarding implementing the project through the SADC Technical Committee on Open and distance Learning.
South Africa has experience regarding implementing distance learning in Africa.
The country's largest distance learning institution, the University of South Africa (UNISA) opened its first premises outside the country's borders in Ethiopia in January, 2007.