TVET Innovation Conference and the Innovating Education in Africa Pitch and Award Ceremony 2022

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novembre 10, 2022

November 10, Tunisia, The African Union Commission (AUC), AUDA-NEPAD through the Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA) and in partnership with the Tunisian government held the TVET conference under the theme “Driving transformation in TVET practice” from 9-11 November in Tunis, Tunisia.

The conference brought together political decision-makers, key players from the public and private sectors, academics, and representatives of technical and financial partners active in the field of TVET to share good practices and innovative approaches to solving TVET challenges on the African continent.

The conference also included a pitch contest where winning innovations from the 2022 edition of the Innovating Education in Africa (IEA) initiative were announced. The overall objective of the IEA Pitch was to generate visibility and strengthen advocacy around innovations in education and training in Africa and provide a platform for partnerships and investments in promising education innovations developed in Africa.

The TVET Innovation Conference further aimed at establishing an exchange platform that will address promoting the alignment of the different country strategies with the Continental TVET strategy and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25). This is in order to create synergy and develop a common vision of the future of the TVET sector in Africa. The event offered opportunity for knowledge sharing and peer learning about innovative mechanisms to optimize the functioning of the TVET sector.

Good practices of innovative solutions and models in TVET provision that have been successfully implemented and that may be replicated across the Continent were shared, thus building capacities of decision-makers and other stakeholders who participated.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training of the Republic of Tunisia Dr. Nasreddine Nsibi, stated that the government of Tunisia in attracting more youth to vocational training was demonstrating that it TVET opens the professional world. He added that the government was working with the private sector to better understand their needs and improve the training curriculum in TVET.

Dr. Monica Ebele Idinoba, Principal Scientific Officer from AU Department of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation (ESTI), who represented the Acting Director, said the Department was leveraging on initiatives such as the AU-EU Innovation agenda which builds on the enormous growth opportunity to strengthen innovation ecosystems across Africa.

Education innovators were urged to rethink options that will assist to tackle education challenges and skills development in Africa especially as countries emerge from the COVID19 pandemic.

As part of the conference, the top 15 selected innovators out of 935 submissions from 54 AU Member States had the opportunity to pitch their innovations. Innovating Education in Africa is an AU program established in 2018 with the aim of identifying, promoting, and supporting the systemic adoption and replication of education innovations in all aspects of education and training in Africa. The top three outstanding education innovations were awarded grants of USD 40,000, 30,000 and 20,000 respectively.

The innovations that were awarded included: Zeraki Learning Application by Litemore Limited that allows high school students to learn from at their own time and pace and it includes video class; Tangible Africa Project by Fathers House Leva Foundation that offers various activities in the coding concept for offline learners; Magoé Education Application by Magoé Technology that facilitates the management of Educational Institutions and supports students to track their consolidated academic achievement.

The outcome of the event will contribute to the realization of CESA 16-25 and Agenda 2063, scaling up the IEA program to identify promising education innovations in Africa and for TVET to become a coherent system that aims to meet the continent's economic development needs in terms of a skilled workforce both in sufficient quantity and quality for collective social well-being.

For more information, contact:

Mr. Nicholas Ouma | Senior Youth Advisor | Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation | African Union Commission Tel: +251 115 517 700 | E-mail: OumaN@africa-union.org

For media inquiries, please contact:

Ms. Faith Adhiambo, Communications Officer- Agenda 2063 Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission Tel: +251 115 517 700 | E-mail: ochiengj@african-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Information and Communication Directorate I African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org