WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS TRAINING FOR STAFF OF UN AGENCIES
From 2000 - 2003, COL embarked on the creation and delivery of a series of professional development courses under contract to agencies in the UN system - and in 2001 and 2003 won awards for doing so. Delivered through open and distance learning methodologies, the courses focus on the enhancement of written communications skills and are designed specifically for employees with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO ) and the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
In 2001, COL's Writing Effectively for UNHCR course materials won the Award for Excellence in the Development and Delivery of Distance Education from the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia. In 2003, the course won another Award for Excellence in the category of international collaboration from the Canadian Association for Distance Education.
Initially, UNHCR requested COL's assistance in preparing a paper-based, electronically tutored course and delivering it to their employees spread around the world, some with limited Internet access. COL worked with an Australian writing and design team to develop the course. Following a positive assessment of the UNHCR programme, COL was asked to develop and deliver a similar course, under a similar partnership, with UNAIDS and WHO. Both organisations requested an online course be made available through the UNAIDS and WHO intranet, in addition to the development of a CD-ROM supplement for those unable to access the Internet. COL developed both in partnership with the South Africa Institute for Distance Education. Word is still spreading in Geneva: COL's most recent client is the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Although not a UN agency, IFRC has similar needs for their international staff.
By the end of 2003, 1300 UNHCR staff members in 70 countries will have been trained. Ninety per cent of students enrolled in the English language course, Writing Effectively for UNHCR, while 10 per cent enrolled in its French language equivalent, Communication écrite pour le personnel du HCR. The completion rate is around 80 per cent.
WHO and UNAIDS trainees total 220 to date and over 100 IFRC staff are now enrolled for the first offering of their course. Offering these courses is a fee-for-service opportunity for COL that contributes to its ability to provide other programming. The growth of this service has been more that COL originally expected.
Open and distance learning has proved to be an effective and efficient way of delivering training to the global workforce of these international organisations. COL has showcased the best practices of ODL in terms of creating culturally and gender-sensitive learning materials that are customised for workplace training. The strong network of learner support and personalised e-tutoring has been highly commended by learners. From UNHCR's Staff Training Unit: "UNHCR, with its staff dispersed so widely in so many locations, needs to develop more distance learning opportunities for its staff, and this module establishes an excellent example of the democratisation of learning in our organisation."
