88227 ICTs for education in Africa eTransform AFRICA AFRICAN UNION This document, on the use of ICTs for Education in Africa, is the summary of the full sector study which was carried out by a team from ict Devel- opment Associates led by David Souter and comprising Lishan Adam, Neil Butcher, Claire Sibthorpe and Tusu Tusubira. The full report is available at www.eTransformAfrica.org. This document forms chapter four of the publication edited by Enock Yonazi, Tim Kelly, Naomi Halewood and Colin Blackman (2012) “eTransform Africa: The Transformational Use of ICTs in Africa.” Funding for the publication came from the AfDB Korean Trust Fund, the WB Pfizer Trust Fund and the WB Africa regional department. eTransform AFRICA AFRICAN UNION ICTs for education in Africa Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform business and government in Africa, driving entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth. A new flagship report – eTransform Africa – produced by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, with the support of the African Union, identifies best practice in the use of ICTs in key sectors of the African economy. Under the theme “Transformation-Ready”, the growing contribution of ICTs to Agriculture, Climate Change Adaptation, Education, Financial Services, Government Services and Health is explored. In addition, the report highlights the role of ICTs in enhancing African regional trade and integration as well as the need to build a competitive ICT industry to promote innovation, job creation and the export potential of African companies. introduction ICTs for education in Africa 1 3 The future development of Africa and on education is not necessarily achiev- its participation in the knowledge ing the expected benefits. This chap- society will be greatly influenced by ter examines the potential for the use how Africa manages to deliver quality of ICT to support improvement and education to its citizens. The African transformation of the education sector Union specifically acknowledges this in Africa, including brief case studies in its Second Decade of Education for of South Africa, Uganda and Senegal. Africa (2006–2015) Plan of Action: It identifies specific opportunities and challenges, and recommends areas of Education forms the basis for develop- intervention for governments, devel- ing innovation, science and technol- opment partners and other stakehold- ogy, in order to harness our resources, ers. It looks in particular at the follow- industrialise, and participate in the ing five areas: global knowledge economy and for Africa to take its rightful place in the • teacher professional development; global community. It is also the means by which Africa will entrench a culture • digital learning resources; of peace, gender equality and positive African values. • affordable technologies; While ICT has been used in many • education management information parts of the world to improve the qual- systems (EMIS); and ity and increase access to education, most African countries still face the • National Research and Education challenge that increased expenditure Networks (NRENs). landscape analysis ICTs for education in Africa 2 5 In Africa, many governments have The growth of knowledge societies focused on developing national ICT has placed increasing emphasis on the policies and National Information and need to ensure that people are infor- Communication Infrastructure Plans mation-literate. However, it is impor- to support their socio-economic de- tant to consider expanded definitions velopment efforts and policies for ICT of information literacy that are based in education. Several African govern- on mastering underlying concepts ments are prioritizing the use of ICT in rather than on specialized skill sets. education, in order to achieve critical Education systems need to develop strategic developmental objectives – or and establish methods for teaching and at least agreeing policies to do this. evaluating these critical literacies at all levels of education. Developing countries, however, have experienced difficulties in adapting ICT can facilitate a transition of the policies and regulations to rapid chang- role of the teacher in the classroom es in technology and market structure. into that of an instructional manager In some instances, policies concerned helping to guide students through in- with ICT and education are not com- dividualized learning pathways, iden- plemented by policies in other relevant tifying relevant learning resources, areas, such as telecommunications, that creating collaborative learning op- support such development. Further- portunities, and providing insight and more, ICT policies are not always ac- support both during formal class time companied by detailed implementation and outside of contact time. Unfortu- plans or commitment from govern- nately, however, most professional de- ment to implement them. velopment programmes tend to con- centrate on teaching educators how to Increasingly, investment in ICT is be- use the technology itself. Professional ing seen by education institutions as development needs to focus on how a necessary part of establishing their to mentor and guide learners in this competitive advantage, because it is at- environment. tractive to students and is also deemed essential by governments, parents, At the same time, the emergence of the employers and funders of higher edu- concept of Open Education Resources cation. Despite this, there is no direct (OER) has led to growth in the collec- correlation between increased spend- tive generation and sharing of content ing on ICT and improved education by networked groups of people, and in performance. the proliferation of technologies that enable cheap information-sharing and Benefit and impact, to the extent that collaboration. The digitization of in- they can be reliably measured, are more formation in all media has also, mean- functions of how ICT is deployed than while, introduced significant challeng- of what technologies are used. es concerning intellectual property. 6 ICT is reducing barriers to entry for physically separated, and in which potential competitors to traditional teaching and learning take place by education institutions by reducing the means of individual technologies or importance of geographical distance, combinations of technologies. enabling potential new efficiencies in overheads and the logistical require- Mobile and personal technology plat- ments of running education pro- forms are increasingly seen as ap- grammes and research agencies, and propriate for services of all kinds. expanding cheap access to informa- The capabilities of mobile and personal tion resources. As a result, there has devices have grown, driven partly by been significant growth in the num- the increasing availability of digital ber of distance education programmes materials and applications. in which teachers and students are opportunities and challenges ICTs for education in Africa 3 � Establishing an enabling policy environment p8 � Widening access to ICT infra- structure and connectivity p8 � Providing increased connectivity to support education and learning p11 � Harnessing ICT to improve man- agement and administration p11 � Harnessing Open Educational Resources p12 � Building human capacity p14 � Challenges p15 8 Planning for new interventions which within which implementation will take aim to harness ICT to improve educa- place. There is no single right approach tion must begin with contextualized which suits all educational environ- needs analysis and careful preparation ments but there are a number of general which takes account of the realities opportunities which are worth noting: Establishing an enabling policy environment Establishing an enabling policy envi- includes policies and initiatives that ronment, or reviewing what is in place help to drive the national ICT agenda, to ensure sufficiency, is a major oppor- and includes policy on ICTs in edu- tunity for many countries (see Box 1 cation, bandwidth and connectivity. right page). South Africa and Egypt Existing education policies in most are examples of countries that have African countries need thorough re- achieved significant progress in the in- view and updating to ensure that the tegration of ICT in education through policy for ICT in education supports enabling policy environments, sup- and is supported by complementary ported by appropriate institutional policies for education as a whole. and regulatory structures. They illus- Additionally, all education legislation trate that, where there has been sig- should be reviewed and updated to nificant scaling up of ICT integration safeguard against legal and concep- into teaching and learning, implemen- tual contradictions created by ICT in tation has been carried out through education policies. Most important is cross-sectoral collaboration between the need to align resource allocations ministries of education and other sec- and budgets with priorities defined in tors. An enabling policy environment these new policy positions. Widening access to ICT infrastructure and connectivity Widening access to ICT infrastructure that teachers and learners already own. and connectivity is another priority. The proliferation of mobile phones It is important first to harness devices has meant that more learners have 9 Box 1 Establishing an enabling policy environment While responsibility for the manage- there is a draft education sector- ment of schools is shared between specific ICT policy, this draft, at national and provincial government the time of this study, was still with in South Africa, all priorities and pro- Cabinet for ratification. The absence grammes are in line with national of an approved policy and strat- policy determined by the national egy for ICT in education is the most government. South Africa has a likely cause of a lack of common number of cross-sectoral and mutu- focus and direction among many, ally supportive policies. Successful largely donor-driven, initiatives for implementation of policy requires ICT in education. enabling institutional arrangements. South Africa has several public en- Senegal, on the other hand has the tities and agencies concerned with necessary policy environment for ICT, as well as a national commis- ICT in education, but has seen lim- sion to advise on ICT development ited real progress. Adopted in 2009, in the country. These support ICT in the policy has yet to have any sig- education in various ways as part of nificant impact on the state of ICT in their mandates. education. This suggests that Senegal still has to put in place a more com- Uganda first developed a National prehensive range of related policies ICT Policy framework in 2003. While in order to achieve success. access to ICT devices than ever before, However, mobile phones may not be offering opportunities in terms of sus- the most appropriate platform to ad- tainability and scalability. A number dress a particular educational need, of pilot projects are testing the use and may present challenges of access, of mobile phones to support educa- cost and usability. As technology tional activities and some, such as the costs decline further, other devices Yoza and Math for Mobile projects in (such as laptops and tablets) are likely South Africa, are seeking to exploit to become more affordable and acces- this high level of access to learning on sible platforms for both teachers and an increasingly large scale (see Box 2). learners. Box 2 next page l 10 Box 2 Widening access to ICT infrastructure and connectivity Alongside a vibrant private sector, surprising that – apart from donor- the government of South Africa has driven projects supplemented by invested substantially to develop the initiatives of the communications country’s telecommunications sec- regulator, the Uganda Communica- tor. It has made considerable strides tions Commission – there has been in the electrification of schools, no coordinated effort yet to address with more than 85 per cent of access and connectivity for schools. public schools covered by 2009. The overwhelming majority of schools South Africa also has initiatives in in Uganda – primary and second- place to provide computer laborato- ary – lack access to both the internet ries in schools and connect them to and power. the internet. In Senegal, telecommunications op- Because of the high penetration of erators are the main players in the mobile technology in the country, extension of internet connectivity especially among the young, South to schools. There are, in addition, Africa is piloting projects that make a number of externally funded proj- use of mobile technology for learn- ects aimed at providing access to ing. South African universities are schools, the largest to date being also making use of mobile technolo- the USAID Basic Education project gies to support academic adminis- (USAID/EDB). All of these were initi- tration and community work. ated before the adoption of an ICT in education policy. The impact of In the absence of an enabling poli- this policy in directing donor-funded cy environment in Uganda, it is not projects remains to be seen. Models of shared access to mobile de- One-to-one computing strategies may be vices, as well as those focused on suitable for providing access to teachers. teacher access, are more realistic from If they have laptops or netbooks, they the perspectives of cost and support can use these to engage in informal than one-to-one computer access. learning at their own pace, to source These devices can be moved around and develop materials, and to design within schools, and can therefore be and project lessons. This approach is more easily integrated into classroom being explored in countries including teaching. South Africa (Teacher Laptop Initia- tive) and Kenya (Laptops for Teachers Programme). 11 Providing increased connectivity to support education and learning The increasing rollout of competitive fi- over the past ten years has created an bre to Africa and within African countries important opportunity to extend af- and greater penetration of wireless and fordable non-commercial broad- mobile platforms have expanded oppor- band to education institutions. South tunities for connectivity and broadband Africa and Kenya stand out as examples access. Wi-Fi and WiMAX especially where a combination of sector liberal- create the opportunity for wide scale ization and government investment deployment of wireless access devices. in connectivity to education, working with NRENs, has led to prices falling to The emergence of National Research and less than 10 per cent of what they were Education Networks (NRENs) in Africa three years ago. Harnessing ICT to improve management and administration There is also value in harnessing ICT to and regional education performance. improve educational management and There is also a need to upgrade cur- administration (see Box 3). One ma- rent Educational Management Infor- jor problem with current management mation Systems (EMIS) through the information systems is the lack of ad- adoption of web-enabled tools, and for equate and well-designed policies and the sharing of knowledge on require- strategies for the collection and use of ments, challenges and opportunities. educational information by both gov- The National Education Statistical ernments and individual institutions. Information System (NESIS) pro- There is a need to support African gov- gramme, which has been promoted by ernments so that they can formulate the Association for Education Devel- cost-effective and sustainable strategies opment in Africa (ADEA) provides a for educational data collection and use, platform to promote policy and other and for the development of indicators capacity support for EMIS develop- that enable the monitoring of national ment in Africa. 12 Box 3 Harnessing ICT to improve management and administration South Africa has established a com- EMIS and equipment maintenance, prehensive range of EMIS platforms and challenges in sustainability re- that cover the acquisition, process- sulting especially from connectivity ing, dissemination and reporting of costs. In addition, the data collected education data at the national level, are only used at the centre: they are and within different education strata. not yet used to support decision- making by schools or districts. In Uganda, several development partners – including the World Bank, In Senegal, there are centrally man- USAID and DFID – have at different aged systems for collecting educa- times supported EMIS, including tional statistics at all levels of edu- decentralization to districts and the cation. There are also systems for incorporation of GIS capability into managing examinations, finance, and the system. EMIS in Uganda has, human resources. Most of these are nevertheless, faced several chal- internally developed, pointing to the lenges, including unreliability of data, fact that Senegal has made significant challenges in decentralization result- progress both in capacity develop- ing from a lack of human capacity in ment and in implementing EMIS. Open source platforms provide another allows database administrators to adapt a opportunity for African countries, generic tool to the specific characteristics though they require expert human ca- of their national education system and to pacity. One example is OpenEMIS, which customize the components of the infor- was sponsored by UNESCO. OpenEMIS mation system appropriately. Harnessing Open Educational Resources The growth of Open Educational advantage. Developments include Resources (OER) and the communi- those, such as OER Africa and the ties around them provides a significant Teacher Education for Sub-Saharan opportunity to improve access to and Africa (TESSA) Initiative, which are use of high quality educational ma- involved in promoting and supporting terials (see Box 4), of which African the creation and use of OER in Africa. governments and educators can take 13 Box 4 Harnessing digital learning resources Several initiatives provide free edu- Uganda does not have any signifi- cational resources in South Africa. cant initiative to produce OER, either The Thutong portal, run by the in the public or private domains. Department of Basic Education, has Senegal, on the other hand, has resources on curriculum and ex- made considerable progress in de- aminations, teacher development, veloping digital learning resources. school administration and manage- At the national level, the Ministry of ment. Mindset Network, an NGO, Education has collaborated in the has been distributing high-quality development of an education portal materials for the schooling and through which teachers can down- health sectors openly and freely. The load learning resources and adapt Siyavula project, founded in 2008, them to local needs. The portal also works with teachers to develop provides a training space that allows teaching and learning materials in teachers to take courses, participate collaboration and then share them in collaborative work and engage through an open licence agreement. with peers and experts. The transformative educational poten- with governments and educational tial of OER revolves around increased institutions. availability of relevant high-quality learning materials that can contribute Important challenges to OER devel- to more productive work by students opment include: the need to ensure and educators. The principle of allow- that the resulting products are educa- ing adaptation of materials also pro- tionally effective and of a high stan- vides a mechanism to develop roles dard; provision of adequate ICT in- for students as active participants in frastructure and connectivity; buy-in educational processes. OER has the from those academics and educators potential to build capacity by provid- who are not yet aware of the benefits ing institutions and educators, at little and possibilities; adjustments to staff or no cost, with access to the means workload to enable participation in to develop their competence in pro- content creation and adaptation pro- ducing educational materials and to cesses; capacity to develop and adapt carry the necessary instructional de- OER resources; and hidden costs as- sign to integrate such materials into sociated with search and adaptation. high quality programmes of learning. There is also a need to develop en- NGOs and the private sector are ac- abling policies for intellectual prop- tive in the generation of OER, offer- erty rights, human resource benefits, ing opportunities for collaboration and quality assurance. 14 Building human capacity Building sufficient and competent hu- professional development. For example, man capacity remains a challenge for Namibia’s TECH/NA! strategy maps most African countries. Countries that out training of the entire education have developed a national strategy for workforce from ministry to school level, professional development find it eas- with training of teachers focused on ier to achieve scale in the training of pre-service and in-service training by their teachers and in resourcing their teacher training colleges. Box 5 Building human capacity One of the important features of three large teacher development teacher education in South Africa is programmes: Intel Teach, Microsoft the National Framework for Profes- PiL, and the Commonwealth Certifi- sional Teacher Education and Devel- cate for ICT Integration. opment (NFPTED), which specifies how ICT can be used to widen access While both Uganda and Senegal to teacher education, improve teach- have initiatives aimed at building er-learners’ motivation, speed up the capacity of teachers, both coun- communication, and provide an en- tries appear to focus on computer riched environment for learning. ICT literacy among teachers rather than professional development has been pedagogical issues around ICT in integrated into pre-service teacher learning. Uganda has remained at education by some universities, and the small-scale pilot level, without there are also many opportunities any visible plan or strategy for na- for in-service teacher professional tional level expansion. Senegal, in development in ICT. The training by addition to participating in interna- universities in ICT teacher profes- tional programmes like Microsoft PiL sional development has been com- and iEARN, has some national level plemented by the efforts of School- initiatives that address both pre-ser- Net South Africa, which manages vice and in-service training. There are parameters for good practice NEPAD e-Schools Initiative advocate a which inform the strategy for profes- holistic multi-stakeholder, multi-modal sional development for ICT integration delivery approach to professional devel- that can be taken on board in African opment, specifying that all educational countries. Those developed within the role-players should “possess the skills 15 and competence required to use ICT ef- Because of their reliance on teachers fectively in their daily lives”. In addition, themselves to contribute and sustain “ongoing educational opportunities them, communities of practice offer – formal, non-formal, and informal  – a cost-effective model of professional [should be] made available to, and… development. Teachers that engage in used by, all of these groups of people to communities of practice are more con- further develop their educational ICT fident of their work and less afraid to competence”. Opportunities for teacher display it for scrutiny and critique by competence development include others. Examples include the Partners worldwide and regional programmes in Learning Network (PILN), Siyavula, such as iEARN, which is available in 29 and the Teacher Education in Sub-­ countries on the African continent. Saharan Africa (TESSA) Forum. Challenges The opportunities for ICTs in educa- • lack of necessary ICT skills among tion must be understood within a con- teachers, and of the specific training text of challenges and difficulties. These needed to be able to use ICT appro- include: priately in the classroom; • the absence of comprehensive poli- • lack of appropriate content; cies which enable and support inter- ventions and which are supported by • lack of accurate, comprehensive, up- clearly defined and resourced strate- to-date data on education; and gies for implementation at national level as well as at the level of educa- • the tendency of ICT to accentu- tional institutions; ate social, cultural and economic disparities. • lack of financing and prioritization of ICT investments; It is generally believed that ICT can empower teachers and learners, pro- • limited infrastructure of the kind re- mote change, and foster the develop- quired to support the use of ICT in ment of 21st century skills, but data to education; support these perceived benefits from ICT are limited and evidence of effec- • lack of capacity at all levels to inte- tive impact remains elusive. grate and support the use of ICT in education effectively; case studies ICTs for education in Africa 4 17 Three country case studies, of South 1. A robust policy environment that Africa, Uganda and Senegal, were con- supports the ICT in education pol- ducted to enable a deeper examination icy is an enabling, but not sufficient, of success factors and challenges. condition for ICT roll-out. South Africa provides an example of 2. Policy requires supportive institu- a country which is at a comparatively tional arrangements that may neces- advanced stage of implementing ICT sitate central-level coordination. in education. Uganda offers lessons for countries where there has been some 3. ICT integration in education requires effort to introduce ICT in education, national budget support as well as and where the education sector appears nationally driven partnerships with vibrant, but where there is no coordi- the private sector. Total reliance nated framework. Senegal, like South on donor-funded projects that are Africa, was one of the early pioneers of necessarily driven by differing donor ICT in education, has a reasonably well- agendas will lead to standalone proj- developed framework and, according ects that are not sustainable. to all indications in the literature, has a vibrant education sector. However, the 4. National ownership and sustain- UNDP Human Development Report ability planning are critical in all 2010 education indicators point to edu- initiatives if they are to go beyond cational outcomes well behind those in the novelty pilot level to nationwide South Africa and Uganda. projects that have real impact. The progress of South Africa, Uganda 5. Success of integration of ICT in edu- and Senegal against the challenges cation requires a change of focus identified above is briefly outlined in from computer literacy for teachers Boxes 1–5. The case study countries, to understanding ICT integration through their achievements and chal- in education from the pedagogic lenges, suggest the following lessons: perspective. recommendations ICTs for education in Africa 5 � For policy makers and regulators p19 � For development partners p22 19 For policy makers and regulators Recommendation 1 Establish an enabling policy environment Ensure that all investments in ICT in To be effective, strategies should be de- education (including those made by veloped through appropriate processes governments, development partners, of consultation within countries, in or- individual educational institutions der to ensure that there is strong con- and NGOs) are directed by a single, sensus on the proposed approaches by integrated ICT-in-education strat- all major stakeholders, combined with egy so that they are working towards buy-in to the strategic objectives that common national strategic objectives. have been defined. Recommendation 2 Widen access to ICT infrastructure and connectivity Implement programmes that enable stu- devices, and that support the develop- dents, teachers, and administrators to ment of NRENs as a means to enable gain access to, or own suitable computing resource-sharing and collaboration. Recommendation 3 Harness ICT to improve management and administration Promote data-driven decision-making future EMIS development should focus at all levels. The focus on data usage on schools, colleges and universities at all levels implies that investment in that provide the data. 20 Recommendation 4 Harness digital learning resources Consider judicious investments in content could be derived from open content creation and aggregation to content sources. If suitable content is ensure compliance with African cur- not available, it will be useful to iden- ricula and/or local language demands, tify and invest in priority content de- motivating usage by educators and velopment focus areas. students. In the first instance, priority Recommendation 5 Build human capacity Adopt a suitable global professional strategies at national level. Figure 1 development framework to guide presents a model for such a frame- national implementation of ICT in work, based on the approach that education professional development. Guyana has used to develop a profes- The UNESCO ICT Competence Stan- sional development for ICT integra- dards for Teachers and Teacher Train- tion strategy using the UNESCO ICT ing (CFT) is a good starting point for Competency Framework. planning professional development 21 Figure 1 Illustrative model of national framework for ICT professional development Pre-Service continuing professional development (cpd) Teacher Training Introductory Stand-Alone Certificate/Diploma in Course on Use of ICT in Education Education (Include specialized courses (Dedicated, generic CPD Technology on ICT Integration, plus ICT course aimed at qualified, Literacy focuses in subject-specific practising teachers who Specific Short Courses courses) have not been taught about and Other PD Support ICT in their Initial Training) Strategies Specialized interventions aimed at practising teachers, qualified and unqualified, offered alongside generic Intermediate Stand-Alone CPD modules: Bachelor of Education Course on ICT integration in Education (Two specialized courses on • Use of specific educational ICT and on teaching IT as (Dedicated, generic CPD software applications a subject, plus ICT focuses course aimed at qualified, Knowledge • Teaching IT as a subject Deepening in other subject-specific practising teachers who courses) have not been taught about • ICT maintenance and ICT in their Initial Training) support • etc. Opportunities would include courses, conferences, online Intermediate Stand-Alone communities of practice, Course on ICT integration access to self-study material, in Education etc. (Dedicated, generic CPD Knowledge course aimed at qualified, Creation practising teachers who have not been taught about ICT in their Initial Training) Incentives Certificates; Professional recognition, Salary increments; Time off for training, etc. Modalities of delivery Face-to-face training; online training; mentoring; action research; communities of practice; expos and showcasing; schools of ICT excellence; information and guides; distance training; etc. 22 For development partners Development partners are poten- expertise. They are especially well tial sources of funding for initiatives positioned to stimulate and support which cannot be readily financed initiatives that are based on cross- from national budgets, as well as po- border collaboration: tential sources of policy guidance and Recommendation 6 Ensure funded projects contribute to national policies and objectives Often, ICT in education projects initi- unsustainable and may even impede ated by development partners have not progress in effective roll-out of ICT in been clearly aligned to broader national education by creating conflicts of inter- policies and objectives. Where this has est and unnecessary fragmentation. been the case, such projects tend to be Recommendation 7 Consider investment in the enabling policy environment Should national strategy be unclear, policy environment, including expert development partners should consider support, financing and capacity build- support for governments to develop the ing at both national and regional levels. Recommendation 8 Consider investments to build capacity at a regional or continental level Regional or continental initiatives implementing the kinds of initiatives can contribute to building capacity outlined in this chapter. These might that would support policy makers in include: 23 1. development of common, openly 4. support for the development of ed course and programme licens­ NRENs and deployment of associ- materials; ated data networks and applications (e.g. grid-computing, video-confer- 2. support for the aggregation and re- encing, e-learning, etc); and lease under open licences of digital learning resources produced in Afri­ 5. development of the capacity of pol- can countries, possibly by support- icy makers and regulators to enable ing regional consortia of providers; them to establish more effective ICT in education policies, strategies and 3. establishment of platforms for capacity regulatory frameworks. building and knowledge exchange on EMIS deployment; Recommendation 9 Continue to fund pilot projects to test innovative technologies Technology is still developing rapidly Often, it is difficult for governments bringing with it new educational op- to fund such experimentation, but it portunities. Experimentation is im- remains an essential part of building a portant, therefore, to test the potential knowledge base of best practice. Devel- educational applicability of these new opment partners have a critical role to technologies and approaches, examine play in supporting such activities, not their total cost of ownership and es- least in ensuring pilot projects are well tablish their strengths and weaknesses. evaluated and the results widely shared. Recommendation 10 Ensure that intellectual capital generated by funded projects is shared Adopting policies that lead to release of a sustainable online repository would intellectual capital under open licences help significantly to reduce wastage and (unless there are valid reasons not to do duplication of investment. so) and ensuring that this is stored in 24 Recommendation 11 Undertake an evaluation and impact assessment of regional initiatives Investments by donors, and national understanding of which initiatives governments, in this crucial field will to support and how these can be best be much more productive if they are supported, reinforced or expanded rooted in independent critical evalu- where appropriate, including support ation of regional initiatives at differ- for collaboration between regional ent stages of development and imple- initiatives so that they reinforce one mentation. This will provide better another. 25 Further reading African Union (2006) Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006–2015) Plan of Action, Revised August 2006 http://www.nepad.org/system/files/Second%20Decade%20of%20Education%202006-2015.pdf Butcher, N. (2011) A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER) UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning http://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=357 Educational Technology Debate: Exploring ICT and Learning in Developing Countries http://www.edutechdebate.org EduTech: A World Bank Blog on ICT use in Education http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/ Farrell, G. and Isaacs, S. (2007) Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: A Summary Report Based on 53 Country Surveys infoDev http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.353.html IEG (Independent Evaluation Group) (2011) Capturing Technology for Development: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Activities in Information and Communication Technologies The World Bank Group http://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/content/dam/ieg/ict/ict_evaluation.pdf Neil Butcher and Associates (2010) ICT, Education, Development, and the Knowledge Society Thematic paper prepared for GeSCI African Leadership in ICT: Building Leadership Capacities for ICT and Knowledge Societies in Africa UNESCO (2011) UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers UNESCO http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002134/213475e.pdf www.eTransformAfrica.org Publications for eTransform Africa include the Summary Report, Main Report which includes an overview chapter and summary chapters of the full reports, and the full reports themselves covering the following sectors and cross-cutting themes: Sectors themes: Agriculture Climate Change Adaptation Education Financial Services Modernizing Government Health Cross-cutting themes: Regional Trade and Integration ICT Competitiveness For a more detailed presentation on the role of ICT in education in Africa, see the full eTransform Africa sector report: http://www.etransformafrica.org. Graphic design by Marie-Anne Chambonnier eTransform AFRICA AFRICAN UNION