. . as presented to Commonwealth Ministers of Education for their endorsement at the 15th triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, 27-30 October 2003, in Edinburgh, Scotland."
Ministers
app
roved this Plan in Edinburgh
and pledged financial support, supporting its target of $9m annually.
Forward TYP 2003-2006
Planning a response to the expressed needs of 54 Commonwealth governments for assistance in open and distance learning is a daunting task. We recognise our responsibilities and the magnitude of the task, and have accordingly developed strategies that allow us to leverage our strengths with those of the Commonwealth to deliver the services expected of us.
We are pleased to submit for your consideration and endorsement our plan of work for the next three years. In this plan, Honourable Education Ministers will note that the agency is taking a new approach to its planning and implementation of activities. This is a response, on the one hand, to many of our stakeholders who have been urging us to be more focussed in our work and, on the other hand, to our need to manage our modest resources more efficiently with clearly defined and measurable outcomes.
During the last triennium, we based our plan on a framework that reflected the four roles we have played since our establishment in promoting open and distance learning. While this has "served the needs of the Commonwealth well," as noted by an independent evaluation panel, the new plan is driven by three programmes, each with its own strategic objective. These will not diminish our response rate to member governments, but will help us to build capacity in open and distance learning by focussing attention on matters of policy and advocacy, enhancing the efficiencies and effectiveness of existing open and distance learning systems, and exploring the application of open and distance learning in internationally agreed-upon priority sectors of development.
My colleagues and I have consulted extensively around the Commonwealth in designing this plan. We spoke and shared draft ideas with Ministers of Education, funding agencies, Commonwealth professional associations, senior government officials, academic scholars and managers and our international partners. Through the web, we invited comments and input from all who are regularly in touch or partner with us in our work. Last but not least, our Board of Governors, representing all regions of the Commonwealth and several stakeholder interests, took an active part at all stages of the planning. These consultations took place over a period of eighteen months.
As you explore the issues of access, inclusion and achievement, the theme of the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM), I am confident that open and distance learning will be seen as key to any effective strategy to meet those challenges. As such, I trust that the Commonwealth of Learning will continue to be of interest to Commonwealth governments, adding value to the work of ministries and their institutions in the delivery of education and training.
In presenting this document for consideration and endorsement, we are asking Commonwealth member governments, as well as the major development agencies, to make available the necessary financial resources for the execution of the plan. The plan is based on a funding target of CDN$33 million over three years, with at least CDN$27 million of that being provided as core funding by member states, as recommended by the Commonwealth Heads of Governments in 1995 in Auckland, 1997 in Edinburgh and 1999 in Durban.
The assumptions upon which the Three-Year Plan is based are:
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Endorsement of the plan by Commonwealth governments;
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Continued deployment of open and distance learning methods by partner governments and agencies to achieve their education, health and governance plans;
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Continued and increasing funding from partner governments;
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Confidence in COL's emerging programme-based operation and the relevance of the three strategic objectives;
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A smooth and timely transition in the presidency of the agency as I demit office at the end of May 2004; and
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COL
's skill base matching the aspirations of the plan.
This plan will see the start of our 15th year of service to the Commonwealth. Along the way we have worked with every major Commonwealth initiative in open and distance learning. We have also seen member states moving from scepticism and uncertainty about the use of open and distance learning to embracing it with enthusiasm and commitment. Some three million Commonwealth citizens are engaged in some form of self-learning today. By the end of 2006, we hope to see this number make another giant leap. Open and distance learning is a necessary tool to achieve our world's development goals.
Gajaraj Dhanarajan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Commonwealth of Learning
(1995 - 2004)
From
Project to
Programme Mode: COL as Capacity Builder
We are moving from a project- to a programme-based operational mode. Over the past three years, COL has been implementing a "Performance Management" or "Results Based Management" (RBM), programme-based framework for its planning and evaluation methodology and integrating further UN Millennium Development Goals and Education for All priorities (
www.developmentgoals.organd
www.unesco.org/education/efa) into its programme that has previously been shaped primarily by Commonwealth priorities (such as good governance and the needs of small states) and in-country and in-region assessments. COL's next Three-year Plan will embrace RBM to the fullest possible extent.
For the next three years, COL has identified three priority programmes to support its overriding purpose of
Building Capacity in Open and Distance Learning (ODL):
- ODL Policies, with the objective of fostering the adoption and implementation of open and distance learning policies within the broader educational and human resource development strategies and policies of member nations
- ODL Systems Development, with the objective of assisting in the development of open and distance learning systems that build on existing capacity or assist in creating new capacity appropriate for the contexts of member states
- ODL Applications, with the objective of demonstrating how open and distance learning applications can benefit individual learners, institutions and member states by accelerating human resource development
The plan is also based upon six areas of operation:
- Advisory
- Advocacy
- Capacity-building
- Fostering networks and partnerships
- Knowledge management
- Research
While at the corporate-level, the three programmes would seem to be all-encompassing, the activities within each programme will be focussed on a limited number of planned outcomes: e.g., working in small states, teacher education, and assisting institutions to move to dual-mode delivery. We would particularly welcome comments on the areas that we should be working in.
COL's work will be more tightly focussed, will have longer timeframes and will be scaled up towards larger and more substantial activities. COL will continue to work in partnership with governments, institutions and other international organisations.
Better focussing of COL's efforts will enable the agency to continue to grow and extend its reach and influence.
Please visit other areas of our website to gain a fuller appreciation of our work to date.