REPORT OF MEETING WITH UoM AND ROCARE

REPORT OF THE MEETING WITH ERNWACA, UNIVERSITÉ de MONTRÉAL AND IDRC


The meeting started at 8:30 am on Wednesday 04-07-07. Present at the opening ceremony were:

• Kathryn Toure - Regional Coordinator, ERNWACA
• Mbangwana Moses Atezah – Research Program Manager PanAf, ERNWACA
• Lamine Diarra – Research Program Officer ICT, ERNWACA
• Dramane Darave – Webmaster PanAF, ERNWACA
• Moise Thera - Finance Officer PanAF, ERNWACA
• Charles Dougnon – Assistant Research Officer, ERNWACA
• Thierry Karsenti – Professor, Université de Montréal
• Toby Harper – Research Program Manager PanAF, Université de Montréal

Location of meeting:

ERNWACA Regional coordination (In case of electrical failure it will be held at Amitié.




The agenda was adopted as follows:

Objectives of the Meeting:

• To agree on the roles and responsibilities of partners.
• Finalise first draft of methods guide.
• Discuss partners meeting and methods workshop.


WED
8:00-10:30
• Welcome by Regional Coordinator of ERNWACA (KT)
• Introduction and Presentation of PANAF by TK and KT
• Presentation of Agenda of the meeting by KT and TK
• Presentation of summary of PANAF project by KT and TK
• Presentation of the Observatory by TK.

10:30-10:45
Break

10:45-12:30
Lunch

13:30-15:30
• Continuation on discussion on roles and responsibilities of partners
• Communication strategy in relation to Panaf project
• Plan of workshop in Dakar in October
• Discussion on methods guide

15:30-17:30
• Methods Guide
• Training on remote access to UoM server (TK)


THU
8 :00-10:30
• Methods Guide

10:30-10:45
Break

10:45-12:30
• Putting together of methods guide by MM and THM
• Partners meeting by TK and KT

12:30-13:30
Lunch

13:30-15 :30
• Putting together of methods guide by MM and THM
• Partners meeting by TK and KT

15:30-17 :30
• Putting together of methods guide by MM and THM
• Partners meeting by TK and KT

FRI
8:00-10:30
• Putting together of methods guide by MM and THM
• Meeting with Alioune and others
• Action research phase II by TK and KT

10:30-10:45
Break

10:45-12:30
• Newsletter
• Book for phase II ICT by TK and KT

12:30-13:30
Lunch

13:30-15:30
• Other projects with IDRC by TK and KT
• Presentation of Methods guide draft



Kathryn Toure welcomed members present in the meeting and expressed her wish that within the four days we should try as much as possible to achieve the main objectives of the meeting which were as follows:

• To agree on the roles and responsibilities of partners.
• Finalise first draft of methods guide.
• Discuss partners meeting and methods workshop.

She introduced herself and gave the opportunity to everybody to introduce themselves the way the wanted. After the self introduction, Kathryn took the floor again to present the vision of the PanAf Research Agenda for the pedagogical integration of Information and Communications Technology. Thierry Karsenti was given enough time to present the Observatory which he brilliantly did by showing how the website works. From his presentation, members observed that it is user friendly, easy to be used by end users, easy to update information by researchers and contact persons. One point that came up as a criticism was that many sceptics will not believe that it is a Pan African Observatory because the website was hosted in the Université de Montréal. Thierry explained that it is cheap to host it out there and that all African researchers and policy makers will have access to this site and that it really does not matter where a site is hosted but how beneficial and access to the end users.

Kathryn led the discussion on the roles and responsibilities of partners participating in the Observatory. The question was posed to all members to reflect and make proposals. Thierry started by saying that for the past years he has been collaborating with ERNWACA and basically on a frank, sincere and open spirit to advance research. Members agreed that they observed that and thanked Thierry for what he has done over the years in ERNWACA but continue by saying the we really need to state in clear terms what ERNWACA and Université de Montréal will be doing and what they will actually gain.

A non-exhaustive summary of the roles and responsibilities, in no particular order, are outlined in the tables below. This list was developed to provide background information, and general operational parameters, for the ERNWACA / U de M partnership. The litmus for all decisions will be how well thy serve the primary objective of the project – an enhanced understanding of the pedagogical integration of ICT in Africa. The themes of the partnership are Flexibility, Synergy, and Complicity.



What does ERNWACA bring to PanAf?
• 17 years of African education research experience
• A developed network of African experts

What does U de M bring to PanAf?
• Technical expertise and resources (equipment, support team etc.)
• International development research experience (particularly ICT in Ed. in Africa

What will ERNWACA do?
• Publish the PanAf Newsletter
• Manage the majority of communication with African partner institutions
• Manage the majority of funds allocated by IDRC (for African partner institutions)
• Manage the PanAf website (“portal” to the Observatory)
• Prepare technical reports for IDRC (as required)
• Plan the two initial methodology workshops (September 2007)

What will Université de Montréal do?
• Develop African partner expertise (through a variety of support and training initiatives)
• Manage the Observatory data platform
• Provide the PanAf project with access to technical resources (at UdeM)
• Overall fiduciary responsibility for the project (and manage Canada-bound funds)
• Prepare technical reports (as required)

What will ERNWACA gain?
• International visibility (beyond the network’s historical boundaries)
• Capacity building at multiple levels (regional coordination and national members)
• Funding

What will U de M gain?
• Enhanced international presence
• Enhanced experience in ICT4Ed in Africa
• Funding



After the roles and responsibilities Mbangwana Moses and Dramane Darave presented the draft of the methods guide they have already started. Kathryn and Thierry appreciated the work already done and made proposals that were to improve on the quality of the guide. Moses, Dramane and Toby were then to continue work on the guide while Kathryn and Thierry were to work on the program of September training workshop. The draft of the methods guide and the Observatory were presented to Alioune Camara – the representative of IDRC on Friday 05-07-07 in the morning. Alioune was very impressed and made the following observations which he said should be taken very seriously:

• The gender aspect in all the indicators
• The hosting of the website in such a way that people should not see it as a Université de
Montréal business
• The financial remuneration to contact persons in order to avoid failure
• The inclusion of an item in the Observatory that will permit people to post news on the use
of ICT
• The timing of the project should be very clear to allow researchers to know exactly what to
do and when



Mbangwana Moses proposed topics that should appear on the maiden edition of the newspaper. There were some amendments made and it was concluded that the first edition should be ready during the training workshop for the PanAf participants in September. Bellow is a list of articles for submission in the newsletter.

PanAf Newsletter No 1 Sept. 2007

• Editorial - ..?
• Scientific committee - ..?
• Gender in ICT - Prof. Tchombe
• “What is an Observatory” with specific examples - Prof. Thierry Karsenti
• Presentation of the Observatory - Kathryn Toure
• Project Conception and Vision - Alioune Camara
• Presentation of new PanAf management team staff - Kathryn Toure
• Presentation Countries participating in the project - Mbangwana Moses
• “The Role and Responsibilities of the Primary Partners” - Kathryn Toure
• Report on the (July) ERNWACA, UdeM, IDRC meeting - Moise, Moses, Dramane
• Calendar of PanAf activities - Kathryn Toure
• Upcoming activities
• Observatory research work in additional (non-first 11) countries - ..?
• “Review of African ICT policy documents, focusing on the education sector” - Thierry and
additional person to be decided by KT and MM
• Contact information - panaf@ERNWACA.org



A report on the countries participated was presented and it was resolved that the Program manager should write a letter to them and a follow up with telephone calls. Alioune promised to get in contact with Senegal, Egypt, Mozambique and Uganda. Documents received as of today from the participating countries is presented in the table below:

Informations reçues/ Documents already received (04-07-07)

Pays Lettre d’intention/
Letter of intent Fiche participant / National Participants CV participant/ CV of Participants Fiche Bancaire/ Bank information Document bancaire / Bank documents Donnés 12 Indicateurs/ Data for 12 indicators
Cameroon √
CAR √ en cours √
Congo-Brazza √ √
Egypte √
Kenya √
Mali √ √
Maroc √ √ √ √ √
Mozam. √
Sénégal √
South Africa √
Uganda √



The program for the training workshop was presented as follows:
• Workshop with Francophone countries 6-7 September 2007 in Bamako Mali
• Workshop with Anglophone countries 25-26 September 2007 in Nairobi Kenya.