The Innovating in Education Expo was organised by the African Union Commission in partnership with AU Member States and several partner organisations and agencies across Africa. The purpose of the event is to show case technical and social innovations in education and training across Africa, with the main objective of establishing a multisectoral platform for experience sharing on relevant innovations that provide solutions to education challenges in Africa.
The event is also aimed at raising the visibility of education innovators and innovative practices so that they can be supported, upscaled, replicated or further developed.
The 2018 Innovating Education in Africa Expo was hosted by the Government of the Republic of Senegal from 4th – 6th October 2018 in Dakar, Senegal.
The event was attended by Ministers and Senior Officials responsible for Education in AU Memeber States: Senegal, Botswana, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Algeria, Malawi, South Africa, Chad, the Gambia, Guinea, and Madagascar. A range of agencies including UN agencies, international and national government and non-state organisations, private sector and individual experts were present. There was a total of over 300 participants in attendance.
The event had a diverse range of interactive, creative exhibitions sessions by organizations and innovators. Participants were offered numerous opportunities to share their innovations and to network and collaborate. Exhibitions included documentation, software, hardware, video and audio clips and demonstrations on education innovation.
Following the ‘pitching’ session, 10 top innovations were ranked for prizes. The awards included cash prizes, AU plaques, and training fellowships. Cash prizes were contributed by the African union, One Campaign, Ford Foundation, UNESCO, Plan International and USAID.
In appreciation remarks, the First Place Innovator expressed his delight of receiving this valuable award and thanked the African Union Commission and other partners for organising the Innovating Education Expo in Africa. He underlined that the award will help him to scale-up his innovation and encourage him to do more in the future.
A number of plenary as well as parallel sessions were held, featuring presentations and discussions by prominent academics, policy makers, business actors and emerging education innovators, as well as representatives from development partner organizations. These included innovative approaches at all levels of education. Among the themes featured in the workshops were innovations in Employment oriented TVET with strong involvement of the private sector, early childhood education, education in conflict affected areas, ICT in education, public and private partnership models, tertiary and higher education, teacher development, enhancing access for women and girls in education, making learning fun, and education policy and research.
Botswana offered to host the next Innovating Education in Africa Expo in 2019.