eLearning Africa 2011
6th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training
25-27 May 11 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
eLearning Africa is a conference and exhibition organised by ICWE GmbH that focuses on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development, education and training in Africa. Serving as a pan-African platform, eLearning Africa links a network of decision-makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry and important partners in development cooperation. Each year a different country hosts the event. At the 2010 event, 1778 teachers, educators, trainers and ICT professionals from 78 countries, the majority coming from Africa, convened in Lusaka, Zambia. Conference languages are English and French.
Over 40 per cent of Africa’s population is younger than 24 years old. 198 million Africans, 20 per cent of the continent’s population, are aged between 15 and 24 – the largest percentage of young people anywhere in the world. Children (under the age of 15) account for another 20 percent. eLearning Africa 2011 will focus on this group and its huge potential.
African youth constitutes a vast reservoir of talent, skills and opportunity but it faces many difficult challenges. Simply staying alive, safe, healthy, educated and employable are each daunting tasks for the majority of young people. In the World Youth Report 2007, the United Nations acknowledged that poverty, violence and limited access to education, health and employment are inescapable for many African youngsters. Furthermore, the potential for learning of significant numbers of young people all over the world, particularly in Africa, remains severely compromised despite significant advances in new technologies.
eLearning Africa 2011 will focus on youth but it will also highlight the importance of skills, skill development and employability.
Is it appropriate then to refer to Africa’s youth as ‘digital natives’ or ‘Generation Y’? Whilst the majority of Africa’s young population can be more appropriately considered as ‘digital outcasts,’ there are layers of African youth who have had varying experiences with ‘growing up digitally’. What are these experiences and how are they manifested?
When: May 25 – 27, 2011
Where: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Organisers: ICWE GmbH, Leibnizstrasse 32, 10625 Berlin, Germany, www.icwe.net
Tel: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0, Fax: +49 (0)30 324 98 33
Contact: Katharina Goetze, [email protected], www.elearning-africa.com
For more information, please visit eLearning Africa online!
