Accra, Nov. 25, GNA – CAMFED Ghana has held a ceremony to launch its library of e-learning assets, as part of measures to ensure continuous learning for children during school closures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event, held at the CAMFED Association Centre in Tamale, Northern Region, was under an initiative, dubbed: “CAMFED with support from the Mastercard Foundation.”
It purchased a “library” of e-learning assets including mobile tablets, routers with data bundles, smart Television sets, and internet-in-a-box devices.
In a statement from CAMFED, copied to the Ghana News Agency, Mrs Sally Ofori Yeboah, the National Director of CAMFED Ghana, said the e-learning project was part of a holistic, long term strategy constructed by the organisation to develop a suite of interactive e-learning content for young women’s work-readiness skills, transitions to employment and enterprise development.
The goal, she said, was to position young women for the post-pandemic economy which would likely include more opportunities for remote working and digital businesses.
The content would also help to “future proof” young people, and support them to build their resilience and preparedness in the face of potential future extreme circumstances.
The statement said it would also enable CAMFED to support them to continue to invest in ongoing personal and enterprise development during potential future periods of uncertainty.
The core beneficiaries were young women from disadvantaged backgrounds who had completed secondary education and were mostly based in rural communities.
Mrs Ofori Yeboah said providing a suite of e-learning hardware would enable marginalised young people (especially learners) to continue to invest in self-learning and to develop work-readiness skills.
She explained that it was important because, as the focus had shifted to e-learning and online personal development and career planning, the most marginalised young people in rural communities without digital resources would be disadvantaged.
The statement said as part of the event, there was a screening of “My Better World” (MBW) animation videos developed by Impact (Ed) International (formerly Discovery Learning Alliance) in partnership with CAMFED.
It is an animated series based on CAMFED’s MBW curriculum with the help of local teens, brought to life by a team of artists and animators across Africa.
The series follows the adventures of six African teens as they navigated the complex challenges of school, family and friendship.
Along the way, they discovered their strengths and learnt how to support each other.
CAMFED has also developed interactive, gender-sensitive e-learning videos on inspiring entrepreneurship stories, what makes an entrepreneur successful, scenes from a customer conversation, business planning masterclass, ethical leadership, online safety, and job interview roleplays, for enterprise, transitions and work-readiness to build skills and resilience.
The digital content, the statement said, would form a valuable complement to CAMFED’s facilitated guide courses.
Facilitators would draw upon the resources as they reach out to young people with the MBW, Transitions and Enterprise programmes.
Mrs Ofori Yeboah said CAMFED would ensure that the assets became widely available to other Young Africa Works partners for use on their platforms.
“We hope this will support a wider gender-sensitive approach to career planning, transitions and enterprise development, ”she added.
Reverend Cyprian Kwasi Akansia, Deputy Northern Regional Director of Education, commended CAMFED and the Mastercard Foundation for the initiative.
He said e-learning resources had become useful now than ever before in light of the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Ghana Education Service will support and collaborate with institutions that implement such initiatives for the benefit of young people, ”he added.
CAMFED is an international non-governmental, non-profit organisation founded in 1993 with a mission to eradicate poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women.
GNA