AUC, GESCI train future African ICT leaders

GOVERNMENT

The second batch of a post graduate course on the African Leadership in ICT (ALICT) has been launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The 7-month intensive training covering ICTs, Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), is an African Union Commission (AUC) initiative, supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and implemented by the Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GESCI).

It is aimed at equipping existing and future African leaders with a commanding understanding of the key elements in the development of knowledge societies. The oversight and implementation coordination of the ALICT course at the level of the AUC is done by the Information Society Division within the Department of Infrastructure and Energy.

The successful candidates, who will undergo the course from this month to June 2013, were briefed during a two-day ALICT orientation workshop in Cazanchise, Addis Ababa.

Janne Oksanen, Second Secretary, Head of Cooperation, Embassy of Finland in Ethiopia, highlighted the commitment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland in supporting the ALICT programme and its high quality of oversight and coordination by the AU Commission and implementation by GESCI.

The participants were introduced to key concepts and tool kits on the Knowledge Society (KS) and leadership in the KS as well as the course e-learning platform which include: chats, forums, access to content, resource centre, virtual work space. The newly registered candidates were taken through the orientation program by two GESCI instructors, Senthil Kumar, Deputy Programme Manager of ALICT and Juho Mikkonen, Blended Learning Specialist. Both instructors presented the ALICT course organization, delivery, course structure, module sequence, timelines, assessment, certification among others.

Kumar explained that the ALICT course is online distance learning aimed to build the capacity of future African leaders to contribute effectively to the development of knowledge societies by imparting new leadership skills to them. “These new leadership skills will provide participants with the attitudes, ideas, management tools, and strategies to act as change agents, assisting their ministries and organisations to develop coherent and well aligned polices in Education, ICT and STI” he underlined.

Participants of the ALICT course are drawn from the middle and senior management officials in Ministries of Education (including Higher Education and TVET), ICT, Science and Technology, Planning and Finance; public organizations (including program implementing agencies) relevant to the identified Knowledge Society pillars; and other key identified organizations.

The laureates of this course will be awarded a joint AUC/GESCI certificate equivalent to a postgraduate University diploma.