ECA and IDEP go virtual to address African training needs

The UN Institute for Development and Economic Planning (IDEP) and ECA’s Development Information Services Division have joined forces to develop a virtual learning academy to be referred to as the African Virtual Learning Academy (AvLAC.org).

The two entities plan to operate the Academy as a mutual exchange of resources where IDEP and vLAC training expertise and modules will be integrated transparently. The overall objective is to create a collective mechanism through which to channel African constituents for specialized development related training.

Dawit Isayas, an ECA expert who is coordinating the project within DISD, has just returned from a technical mission to IDEP where he has been collaborating with colleagues there on the creation of the digital courses.

“This project will be very beneficial within the African context because it provides us with an additional outlet to enhance African development expertise within the region,” he says. “Traditionally, our main focus has been to use ICTs to promote awareness to policymakers, ministers, health professionals and educators. By going virtual we can now reach out to others like NGOs, civil society members and entrepreneurs who have similar motivations and are interested in joining forces with us to develop courses that deal with African development.”

A huge component of the initiative will be web based. From the www.AvLAC.org website, users will be able to register and receive a login that we allow them to choose from a full catalogue of courses or participate in a program prescribed by an AvLAC training coordinator. All training will be monitored by coordinators and some courses will require testing towards completion. Certificates of completion will be issued at the end of courses and trainees can register for as many courses as they wish. At this time, the training is free although users will have to pay or provide their own means of connecting to the site via the Internet.

It is expected that AvLAC.org can offer 10 to 15 specialized and focused courses given that IDEP has accumulated a great deal of information with regard to economic planning and is well known in the region for its training programmes. The initial slot of courses will range from Internet User Training to Regional Integration and will be targeted to both organizations’ traditional clients.

However, this user base will be expanded and Diery Seck, Director of IDEP believes that additional means of delivery should also be developed. “We have been allocating about 80% of our financial resources to actually support the travel needs and accommodation of trainees,” he said. “This mechanism will allow us to dedicate more resources towards the development of a wider spectrum of courses. We also want to go further by placing our training content on to DVD and CD so that we can reach out to other potential users who may be concerned about Internet fees or may not have access to the Internet. Digitization will definitely put more prospects on the table for us.”

For more information, please visit www.avlac.org or send an email to vlactrain@uneca.org.