Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"PCF7 at a Glance: Commonwealth Of Learning's (COL) Seventh Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF7) will be held in Abuja, Nigeria from 2 - 6 December 2013, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). The Forum will address "Open Learning for Development: Towards Empowerment and Transformation" through five themes: "Girls' and Women's Education", "Skills Development", "Promoting Open Educational Resources (OER)", "Innovation and Technology" and "Institutional Development". We look forward to meeting you in this forum and working together constructively on the various ideas and concepts that emerged. "

"'Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations'. Senator William Fulbright As the debate on internationalisation of higher education grows stronger, so does the interest in mobility not only of students, but also of staff. This is likely to intensify in the coming months, as the European Commission's new Erasmus+ programme, starting in 2014, promises more opportunities and funding for higher education and teaching staff to study, train and work in another country. Indeed, higher education staff will account for a significant percentage of the 1 million beneficiaries of a mobility period funded by the programme between 2014 and 2020. Staff mobility is seen as a vital and often cost-effective means of creating 'internationalisation at home' - enabling students to (in)directly experience another higher education culture on site. It is also widely believed that staff mobility has an additional value in acting as a catalyst for student mobility. "

The Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department of the African Development Bank Group (OSAN) is responsible for Bank's assistance in Agriculture and natural resources management in the Regional Member Countries. This assistance includes environmental concerns, promoting agro-industries development, enhancing production, productivity and competitiveness. The Department provides technical and managerial services as well as technical quality assurance to ensure development effectiveness of Bank financed interventions in Agriculture and related areas on the continent . In 2010, the African Development Bank Group started implementing its current Agriculture Sector Strategy (AgSS) covering the period 2010 - 2014. The strategy aims primarily at contributing to the broader development objectives of greater and sustained agricultural productivity, food security and poverty reduction. The strategy was designed with the view of enhancing Bank interventions through more focused, selective and innovative activities. These activities covered areas such as: i) rural infrastructure, including water management and storage, and trade - related capacities for access to local and regional markets; and ii) natural resource management. The strategy also supported selected research initiatives and a wide range of capacity building programs, with distinct features of gender sensitivity, with particular emphasis on fully mainstreaming gender appropriat ely on more than 50% of projects, and ensuring that a similar scope of beneficiaries are women. The Bank recently concluded a Mid-term Review of the AgSS (2010-2014), and will soon commence work on the new Agriculture Strategy to cover the period 2015-2019,and it will be formulated in line with the Bank's Ten Year Strategy ( TYS:2013-2022).OSAN therefore seeks to recruit a junior consultant to assist in : data collection,analysis, research,results reporting and support for the preparation of an approach for the new Strategy.

"Experience from outside UNESCO-UNEVOC Regional Forum Europe and North America network enriches work of penultimate meeting ahead of next year's global forum in Bonn. The second session Tuesday (29 October) of the UNESCO-UNEVOC regional forum Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and North America on advancing, improving and greening TVET hosted by Moscow's National Observatory on Vocational Education/Centre for VET Studies, widened its scope to a broad international focus. The three-day event, attended by over 100 experts in training, system analysis and policy advice, opened Monday with the spotlight on two of UNEVOC's priorities - youth employment and skills development and bringing an ecological perspective to TVET. Tuesday's theme was regional and international harmonization in TVET. Delegates looked well beyond the regional boundaries of Europe, CIS and North America, which is one of the five regional clusters around which UNEVOC organizes its global work. Representatives of the Africa, Arab States, Asia and Pacific, and Latin America and Caribbean regions presented the progress in advancing UNESCO-UNEVOC's agenda, based on the Shanghai Consensus proposals identified last year at UNESCO's Third International Congress on TVET."

"On 30 October 2013, the team of UNESCO-UNEVOC welcomed Khaled Fakha, Alsu Ismetova, Benedict Hartmann and Verena Becker from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to the UNEVOC premises. All four are undertaking an internship at the GIZ in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Bonn/Eschborn. They visited the Centre to learn more about its work in general, the cooperation with GIZ and the Centre's role as a clearinghouse for TVET."

"The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education, Centre of Excellence in TVET (NBTE), organized a Regional Forum on Advancing TVET for Youth Employability and Sustainable Development from 17 to 18 September 2013 in Abuja, Nigeria. The meeting was organized in the context of a series of forums that UNESCO-UNEVOC is organizing as a response to the Shanghai Consensus recommendations and the outcomes of the UNEVOC International Forum (November 2012). The two-day forum aimed at sharing and discussing Promising Practices in the areas of Greening TVET (GTVET) and Youth and Skills implemented by UNEVOC Centres and other institutions in the region, as well as strengthening cooperation between UNEVOC Centres in Africa and supporting the consolidation and expansion of the Network."

"Weak linkages between Tertiary Agricultural Education(TAE) institutions and business enterprises is stifling entrepreneurship and economic development in Africa. This theme dominated discussions during the international Agribusiness Education Fair currently underway at the World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. The three-day Fair, whose objective to improve Agribusiness teaching, research and practice through stronger linkages between Training/research institutions and the private sector' brings together academicians, the private sector, International Non-Governmental Organizations, policy makers, students and entrepreneurs drawn from across Africa. "

African Higher Education Week Celebrating the Contribution of Universities & Partners to Africa's Agricultural Development Please click here to download the Concept Note for the 4th Biennial Conference.The five day conference will be held at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre in Maputo, Mozambique, from 21st to 25th July 2014. The meeting will be co-organized by RUFORUM Secretariat, Government of Mozambique (led by Eduardo Mondlane University and IIAM) and CCARDESA. The Call for Papers will be issued shortly with guidelines on how to submit papers for this conference."

Findings from a scoping study at the onset of a new stage in Ghana's decentralization reform

"The importance of financial literacy and specifically the need to promote financial education has been recognised as an important contributor to improved financial inclusion and individuals' financial well-being as well as a support to financial stability. The relevance of financial education policies is acknowledged at the highest global policy level: in 2012, G20 Leaders endorsed the OECD/INFE High-level Principles on National Strategies for Financial Education that specifically identify youth as one of the priority targets of government policies in this domain. That same year, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers of Finance identified financial literacy as a critical life skill."

Download n° 10 - Spring-Summer 2014 Putting learning into practice In 2006, just eight years ago, the European Commission held a first transnational meeting in Oporto, Portugal, to launch a new "territorial approach" to addressing the challenges faced by Europe's fisheries. Axis 4, as it became known, was born and in 2014 we are starting to see the results and learn from this first experiment in local development for fisheries communities. Zoom: Peer-to-peer learning and mentoring Three examples from Sweden. Report: Partners of the sea Forging a common maritime identity through animation and collective project support in Marennes Oléron (Poitou-Charentes, France). People: Rita Pamplona Report: Axis 4 of the EFF, at the forefront of sustainable development in Romania Two examples in the Danube Delta and South Dobrogea. Four innovative, area-based development projects in fisheries areas. Spotlight:Towards a successful implementation of Axis 4 A study on Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) in 15 Member States estimates that considerable employment benefits and some important qualitative results have already been achieved by FLAGs and beneficiaries.

On 25 April 2014, interns of UNESCO-UNEVOC welcomed four interns from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to the UNESCO-UNEVOC premises. The visitors are currently undertaking an internship in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at the GIZ in Bonn and Eschborn, Germany. They visited the Centre to learn more about its work in general, the cooperation with GIZ and the Centre's role as a clearinghouse for TVET. The visit started with a short introduction of all participants, which was followed by a presentation held by the UNESCO-UNEVOC interns. The presentation focused on UNESCO-UNEVOC's mission, the UNEVOC Network and the online resources. The GIZ interns were especially interested in how the UNEVOC Network works and in the reports of the World TVET Database, a feature they found very useful."

"The largest European Commission research project is being developed to enhance the European aquaculture production by removing production bottlenecks of emerging species, producing new products and accessing new markets. It is Diversify project, which is funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission and had its kickoff meeting at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research in Greece in January 2014. Coordinated by Dr. Constantinos C Mylonas of the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, a total of 38 partners from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Israel, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany and Hungary have participated in this 5-year-long research. The Netherlands is represented by Wageningen University's DLO, The National Institute for Fisheries Studies and the Technical University of Eindhoven."

"Last month, consultant Yves Leenaerts, working with colleagues from the EuropeAid Rural Development, Food Security, Nutrition Unit, borrowed the capacity4dev video camera and editing suite, creating two new videos. This month we're featuring the second interview, which was conducted in person with Professor Philippe Lebailly, who works in the Economy and Rural Development Department at the University of Gembloux in Belgium. This interview is in French."

On August 24-28, 2015, 100 young leaders from around the world gathered at the Global Youth Ag-Summit in Canberra, Australia to discuss ideas, develop a vision and deliver action. An initiative of Bayer CropScience, the Summit was held in conjunction with Australia's only national youth agricultural network "Future Famers Network" (FFN) Australia. Operating since 2002, Future Farmers Network connects and supports young Australians involved in all facets of agriculture and provides members with access to the latest news, events, scholarships, wards and information from across all aspects of the Australian agricultural sector.

The next Brussels Briefing on the subject of "Women entrepreneurs - key players in ACP agribusiness development" will take place on Thursday 17 September 2015 from 9:00h to 13:00h at the ACP Secretariat (451 Avenue Georges Henri, 1200 Brussels, Room C ).

EuropeAid/136359/IH/SER/AL - Support to employment-oriented Vocational Education and Training "The overall objective of the project, of which this contract will be a part, is to increase access to VET and employment and enhance social inclusion. 1. Improvement of the VET system through the strengthening of the VET provider network and key national and regional institutions by the development of improved teaching methodologies, curricula and training programmes; 2. Increasing the access to VET providers by women, young people and vulnerable groups by the development of new curricula addressed at these groups."

Speech by Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries at the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Annual Session Meeting, Rome.

"The Cameroon economic updates aim at sharing knowledge and stimulating debate among those interested in improving the economic management of Cameroon and unleashing its enormous potential."

The objective of the Local Government Support Program Project for Morocco is to set up a lasting program to provide local governments in the project area with access to decentralized support services and assistance to institutionalize inter municipal cooperation. There are three components to the project, the first component being de-concentrated Local Governments (LG) support centers. This component will design and pilot a support mechanism, through local single window support centers for LGs in the project area that will provide LGs with technical assistance to prepare and manage projects. These may include infrastructure projects, the improvement or introduction of a new public service or the contracting of a public service to the private sector. Based on the results of the pilot, the support mechanism is expected to be rolled out at a national level. This roll-out is outside the scope of this project. The second component is the inter-municipal cooperation and institutional reform for local service delivery. This component will include specific consulting services and incentives towards accelerating the formation of inter-municipal cooperation structures and the creation of new public asset companies on a pilot basis in the project area that the inter-municipal cooperation structures will establish for planning and financing their infrastructure investments. Finally, the third component is the program management.