Report on Workshop for Orientation in Curriculum Design and Pre-Test of NATCOMs Capacity Building Manual 17th-21st March 2014, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

In the framework of priority Africa in UNESCO and strengthening the North-South and South-South collaboration between UNESCO National Commissions (NATCOMS), the German Commission for UNESCO supported a programme to build capacity in National Commissions for UNESCO in Sub Sahara African countries. The first workshop under this programme was held in Bonn, Germany, June 2008. It was attended by representatives of 5 NATCOMS from Africa, namely: Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Namibia and Rwanda and representatives of the German NATCOM, and UNESCO Headquarters as well as UNESCO Regional Offices in Sub-Sahara Africa (Dar es Salaam, Windhoek, Nairobi and Bamako). At the Bonn workshop, a roadmap for regional training workshops in Africa was drawn for the period of October 2008 to February 2009. These workshops were organized and conducted by UNESCO in collaboration with the hosting NATCOMS. The East African NATCOMS sub-regional workshop was held in Kigali, on 29-31 October 2008. Representatives from the 5 East African countries (Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda) attended. The participants at the workshop agreed to develop a joint Capacity Building Programme (CBP) for the sub-region. Uganda and Rwanda NATCOMS were tasked develop the programme. A programme named East African National Commissions for UNESCO Capacity Building Program (EACBP) was developed in 2008/09 and implemented between 2009-2012 with, each country hosting a workshop as in the box below. These workshops targeted senior officers (Secretaries-General and Deputy Secretaries-General) of NATCOMS. The host countries had the benefit of involving other staff to the workshops. After the first phase of EACB programme (2012), a terminal evaluation of the programme was conducted in 2013. The evaluation showed that the programme was successful and had achieved its objectives. The evaluation also confirmed the wishes of the participants and recommended for a second phase of the programme. This recommendation was accepted by the German Commission for UNESCO and UNESCO. The EACBP Secretariat in consultation with the NATCOMS worked with the consultants to develop a draft training manual. The EACBP Secretariat developed the second phase of the EACB programme. The focus was to ensure sustainability of the programme by anchoring phase two on the development of a training manual for staff in East African NATCOMs. Consultants were commissioned to guide the process of developing the training manual. A workshop was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 17th-21st March 2014 with two objectives: i) to orient key staff in NATCOMS in communication/advocacy skills and building their strategic role in curriculum design and ii) to pre test the training manual. This report is a summary of the proceedings of that workshop.