CONTEXT
Education is a fundamental right and the foundation of progress in all countries. Everyone has the right to education regardless of their skin color, origin and culture. While it is the primary responsibility of States to ensure quality education for all (SDG 4) for children and young people, it is also up to civil society to take initiatives to increase the number of children and young people entitled to quality education.Education one of the keys to development. Successful countries depend on a skilled and educated workforce to face the challenges they face. Desertification, land degradation and drought are among the first environmental challenges facing most African countries. As a consequence of the harmful effect of man on the environment, they have a negative impact on the future of the continent and the planet insofar as they affect mainly young people representing more than 60% of the population and exposed as women to migration, unemployment, epidemics, pandemics, and food insecurity.
The eradication of poverty, the fight against desertification, land degradation and drought and the achievement of sustainable development in the coming decades require us to work hand in hand to support the education of young people to enable the marginalized and excluded from the systems to realize themselves personally, to develop their intrinsic capacities and their potential in the service of their country, their continent and the world.Unconventional education allows individuals, young people and women in particular who have not been able to follow a conventional classical education curriculum, to aspire to healthy, fulfilling, constructive and resilient lives. It helps them to make their voices heard at the community, national and global levels. It opens up new employment and social climbing opportunities. It has a significant impact in many areas of development. It is one of the cornerstones of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The greatest changes are not achieved by solitary actions, but by the resolute collaboration of leaders and communities. Only genuine collaboration can bring real progress in achieving the new global goals of sustainable development. Young people of any background, culture, and social class need to find common ground in their efforts to introduce innovative and sustainable change. The political and financial commitments of countries and donors for education must be secured and renewed in favor of young people to enable them to transform the world to a better place to live. There is an urgent need for closer collaboration among sectors to enable these synergies to develop and take root.The Pan African University Program on Sustainable Development will contribute to (i) achieving the goals of the UN Convention on Desertification and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
VISION AND MISSION
By 2030, by building on Information and Communication Technologies for Education (ICT), the Pan African Online University for Sustainable Development is a significant actor in training on desertification, land degradation, drought and sustainable development contributing significantly to the emergence of a youth class worldwide known as the solution to the challenge the continent and the world face.
Unconventional education as well as conventional education can accelerate progress towards achieving each of the Sustainable Development Goals in a number of ways and help to improve transparency in governance at all levels for the benefit of communities.
The Panafrican Online University on Sustainable Development aims to create, coordinate, finance, share, disseminate and promote educational resources, digital and audiovisual training, objects, content and form which are labeled scientifically, pedagogically and technically for the benefit of young and vulnerable people. Participants and students are/will be trained in the field of desertification, land degradation, drought and sustainable development objectives in initial and continuing education, online and face-to-face.
Objectives
• Promote access to educational resources to make a significant contribution to the transfer of research results and training in the field of desertification, land degradation, drought and sustainable development in Africa.
• Promote access to the greatest number of young people and women of resources produced in institutions;
• Contribute to the development of new educational resources exploitable by the largest number of its members;
• Generate knowledge and skills by facilitating the exchange of experiences as well as partnerships for co-production and co-exploitation of resources;
• Contribute to the emergence and structuring of a field and an innovative pedagogy, particularly through the link Training – Research and actions on the themes related to desertification, land degradation, drought and sustainable development in Africa.
Activities
- Formal courses : Online delivery (synchronous and asynchronous); Blended mode delivery (Online and face-to-face); Availability of content Online, CDs, DVDs, Print; Instructors and when necessary tutors; Inbuilt quality assurance; Assessment – online and Face-to-face
- Self-directed courses: Online delivery and assessment; Not accredited; Live Events; Online Seminars;
- Webinars: Webinars are online seminars covering a variety of topics. They are broadcast live through the PaOU_SD infrastructure and are available for viewing afterwards.
- Self-learning programs are non-accredited, self-paced online tutorials that provide practical knowledge and skills
- Virtual classroom : Moodle – Illuminate, Mobile technology, Adaptation (ex-low bandwidth, Voice, text, video, Interactive)