ICTworks

Agriculture and Food Security in Africa: After watching USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on the PBS NewsHour discuss the goal of lifting 50 million Africans out of poverty and hunger in 10 years, this article about the role of mobile technology in agriculture jumped out at me. In 2011, Vodafone commissioned a report to identify opportunities for mobiles to address productivity and sustainability challenges in agriculture, and also how technology can help emerging markets play a critical role in feeding a growing population. Get the full report here to learn more about how technology can and will ensure food security.

UNESCO Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning: The ninth and tenth papers of this series have recently been published. The first paper, “Turning on Mobile Learning in Africa in the Middle East: Illustrative Initiatives and Policy Implications,” describes a range of mobile learning programs in in these regions and explores how these programs address educational needs. It also surveys national and local policies related to mobile learning and analyzes their impact. The second paper, “Mobile Learning for Teachers in Africa and the Middle East: Exploring the Potential of Mobile Technologies to Support Teachers and Improve Practice,” examines how several programs have employed mobile devices to support teachers and enhance their professional development. Click here to learn more about this series and what is being discussed on infoDev’s Educational Technology Debate.

eLearning Africa Conference in Benin: If you’re in Cotonou this week, don’t miss Africa’s most important gathering of high-level policy makers and practitioners in education, business, and government as they discuss the development of eLearning capacities across the continent. Click here to learn more.

Mobilizing Knowledge Networks in Development: The World Bank is sponsoring this workshop in Washington, D.C. June 19-20. The goal of the workshop is to explore ways to become better providers and connectors of knowledge in a world where the sources of knowledge are increasingly diverse and disbursed. Another goal is to engage research communities and civil society organizations through an Open Development initiative that makes data and publications freely available. Click here for details.

Textbook Policies in the Digital Age: Read what World Bank ICT and education expert Michael Trucano has to say about the Bank’s revision of its “Operational Guidelines for Textbooks and Reading Materials.” Some of the questions he poses: “How might, or should, a new World Bank ‘textbook policy’ be relevant and useful in such a world going forward? How narrowly – or expansively – should it consider its guidance related to learning materials? To what extent should such a policy attempt to … highlight the potential relevance or importance of certain trends, approaches, or perspectives – especially as they relate to the emergence of a variety of new technologies?” Click here for the answers and more.

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