News Release 2001
24 September
Professor leads Government initiative
Tim Unwin, Professor of Geography
at Royal Holloway, University of London, has been appointed
director of Imfundo.
This high-profile initiative of the Department for International
Development (DfID), championed personally by Tony Blair, seeks
to improve the lives of millions of children across sub-Saharan
Africa through the use of ICT to enhance education.
Imfundo is a word of the Nguni languages of Southern Africa
meaning "the acquisition of knowledge; the process of
becoming educated." Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education
aims to develop the use of information and communication technologies
- both new and old - to support education in developing countries,
with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa.
Imfundo was born out of the global International Development
Targets for education to achieve universal primary education
by 2015 and gender equality by 2005. While some regions, notably
Latin America, the Caribbean and East Asia are on course to
reach this target, other parts of the world are slipping behind.
Of the 113 million children out of school in 1998, 42 million
lived in sub-Saharan Africa.
Tim Unwin has been seconded to Imfundo from Royal Holloway
for three years to implement plans drawn up over a year-long
research period by a team of DFID staff and secondees from
Marconi plc, Cisco Systems and Virgin.
Professor Unwin's task is three-fold:
- to establish a Resource Centre in DFID, specialising in
the use of
ICT to support distance education of teachers, their continuing
professional development and the management of education
information.
- to work with DFID country desks and the governments of
developing countries to tailor initiatives to meet their
needs and priorities in the development of education services.
- to secure the involvement of partners, including the
private sector, civil society, global organisations, academic
institutions and bilateral donors, drawing in theirknowledge,
skills and other resources.
Professor Unwin sees this as an enormous challenge, with
the potential to achieve some real impact on African education,
through the innovative use of partnerships.
ENDS
| News Archive
2000 | News Archive 1999
|
| What's New Index
|
For further details please contact Katie
Price, Press and PR Officer, External Relations Office
on 01784 443967
|
|
