AfLIA establishes a two-year partnership with Saide and OER Africa

News in brief

The African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) is committed to building the capacity of African Librarians to drive quality education that can generate innovations for transformation of communities and creating the Africa We Want. This objective has led to the signing of a two-year Memorandum of Understanding with the South African Institute for Distance Education – Saide and Open Educational Resources Africa – OER Africa to bridge competency gaps of Librarians in Africa by providing training and training resources on tertiary-level Open Educational Resources, Open Licensing and Open Access.

AfLIA will work with SAIDE and OER Africa to develop an evidence-based Continuing Professional Development (CPD) made up of Learning Pathways that will ensure the entrenchment of OER and Open Access best practices in Africa’s tertiary institutions. The initial research on the key professional development needs of LIS academics and Librarians has already taken off to determine the gaps in LIS curricula related to open content and open learning. Within the two years of the operation of the MoU, among other activities, pilot projects will be undertaken in a number of Universities across Africa to test the efficacy of the CPD framework that will be created.

About Saide and OER Africa

Saide is a non-profit organization committed to enabling successful open learning for all through various initiatives. One of these is OER Africa, which facilitates its work in the development and use of appropriate open educational resources (OER) in higher education systems in Africa. A key aim of OER Africa is to collaboratively develop the
professional competences and skills of stakeholders within African higher education institutions so that they can implement OER practices to improve the quality of teaching and learning.