COL in the Pacific  

LEARNING FOR DEVELOPMENT is the theme of the Commonwealth of Learning's Three-Year Plan for 2009-2012. This plan expresses a vision that reaches beyond formal education to embrace areas of learning that are vital for better livelihoods, greater prosperity and a safer environment. Understanding development as the process of increasing the freedoms that people can enjoy, COL pursues this vision operationally within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the campaign for Education for All and Commonwealth values.

COL's two programme sectors, Education and Livelihoods & Health,
embrace eight initiatives that will help governments pursue the twin goals of expanding access to learning and using public funds cost-effectively.

www.col.org/3yp

COL helps developing nations improve access to quality education and training using distance education and appropriate technologies. As a region comprised largely of small island states, the Commonwealth South Pacific faces distinct challenges. Most countries have limited resources to sustain a large education and training infrastructure. While the University of the South Pacific reaches a wide range of learners through open and distance learning (ODL), there remains a pressing need to increase economic productivity and literacy levels throughout the region. Through partnerships with institutions in the region, COL is applying its expertise in ODL and information and communication technology (ICT) to help address needs in the Pacific.

Education

Open Schooling: Open/alternative schooling has proven to be a successful and cost-effective means of increasing access to basic and secondary schooling. To meet the growing demand for secondary schooling resulting from the success of the Universal Primary Education campaign, COL supports open schools through activities including:

www.col.org/OpenSchooling

Teacher Education: COL is working with institutions in the Pacific to strengthen teacher development programmes. COL's Quality Assurance Toolkit for Teacher Education is freely available and has been introduced to Pacific educators at a workshop in Papua New Guinea.

www.col.org/TeacherEducation

Higher Education: COL is working to improve access to quality higher education in the Pacific by working closely with the University of the South Pacific (USP), the primary provider of off-campus tertiary education in the region. USP offers COL's Graduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting, which builds capacity in planning and writing laws and policies. The University of Papua New Guinea is part of the Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration (CEMBA) and Master of Public Administration (CEMPA) programme consortium, which offers working professionals the opportunity to study part-time through ODL. The COL Review and Improvement Model (COL RIM) for effective institutional quality audits is freely available to all institutions and provides a cost-effective approach to quality assurance.

www.col.org/HigherEducation

Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth: Eight Pacific countries (Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) are members of a collaborative network of 32 small states that are part of the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC). Two VUSSC training workshops, also known as "boot camps", have been held in Samoa.

Initiated by COL and now led by an independent Management Committee, VUSSC is creating OERs for post-secondary, skills-related courses in areas such as disaster management, entrepreneurship, sustainable agriculture and tourism. These non-proprietary, electronically-held course materials are freely available for download, use and adaptation, strengthening the educational capacity and outreach of tertiary education institutions in small states.

www.col.org/VUSSC

Livelihoods and Health

Skills Development: COL facilitated the establishment of the Pacific Association for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (PATVET) and the creation of basic skills courses that are being shared throughout islands in the Pacific. Following the successful creation of basic trades training materials, COL has worked with seven Pacific countries and the National University of Samoa to develop associated vocational literacy materials. COL has supported Solomon Islands in its efforts to scale up distance education by assisting with development of a strategic plan and policy framework for distance and flexible learning.

www.col.org/SkillsDevelopment

Learning for Farming: COL helps countries harness the potential of ICT to build capacity in the agricultural sector. COL's successful Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3 Farmers) programme, launched in India in 2003, is now established in Papua New Guinea in partnership with the National Agricultural Research Institute. This powerful partnership of farmers, educational institutions, banks and ICT providers promotes learning for sustained improvement of livelihoods.

www.col.org/L3Farmers

Healthy Communities: Working collaboratively with health and development experts, media and technology groups, community networks and public health authorities, COL helps build knowledge and skills to use non-formal ODL to address health issues at the community level. Experts provide knowledge; media provide scale and animation; community networks provide learner support. COL's approach to community learning is low-cost and participatory, and prioritises local ownership and story-based learning.

• COL spearheaded the establishment of a community learning network in Isabel Province, Solomon Islands. The network brings together government ministries, health authorities, media, ICT facilities and a wide range of community partners to provide training and develop community learning programmes about local health and related development issues.
• Following the 2009 tsunami, COL supported training for a new FM radio station on the remote island of Nuiatoputapu, Tonga, helping local residents to plan, create and broadcast radio programmes about important local issues such as tsunami recovery and preventing outbreak of disease.
• In partnership with the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), COL hosted a workshop for Asia-Pacific community radio stations that built capacity in the development of community learning programmes and participatory content.

www.col.org/HealthyCommunities

Integrating eLearning: COL helps countries and institutions to understand and implement eLearning. A number of educators in the Pacific have learned to convert learning materials into "wiki" format through Learning4Content, a global training initiative originally launched by COL.

www.col.org/eLearning

eLearning for International Organisations: COL's custom ODL programmes help to build skills and knowledge among staff at international agencies such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Labour Organization, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Bank and World Health Organization. Headquarters staff and field-based workers located throughout the world can access COL's eLearning for International Organisations programmes in areas such as communications, data management and debt management.

www.col.org/COLeLIO

Regional Presence

COL maintains strong relationships with many stakeholders in the Pacific, including member governments, partner institutions, donors and individuals. Four of COL's Honorary Advisors, a network of eminent ODL professionals, are from the Pacific. The region is also represented by a COL Chair and a network of individuals, selected by member Governments, who liaise directly with COL as Focal Points. COL creates specific country action plans and country reports to ensure the region's needs are addressed.

Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning:
COL's Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF) has become one of the world's top international conferences on learning and global development.

Each biennial conference is co-hosted with a partner in a different region of the Commonwealth. Recently, this includes the University of London (PCF5 in London, 2008) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (PCF6 in India, 2010).

The five-day programme is designed to address ODL's role in widening educational access, bridging the digital divide and advancing the social and economic development of communities and nations at large. Thanks to an active sponsorship programme and low registration fees, most participants come from developing countries, including many from the Pacific. COL presents its Excellence in Distance Education Awards and confers Honorary Fellowships at each Forum. A number of people from the Pacific are among the past award winners and COL Fellows.

www.col.org/pcf

Knowledge Resources and Communications Media: COL employs a variety of media to communicate with and provide resources for stakeholders and the wider public. COL's website, newsletters (Connections/EdTech News and EduComm Asia) and electronic resources are among the world's foremost sources of knowledge on ODL. Most of COL's recent publications are available on a CD-ROM; all are available on the COL website.

COL's Information Resource Centre maintains an extensive online library of documents about ODL and international development from quality-assessed external sources. More than one million documents are freely available through COL's Knowledge Finder search facilities.

www.col.org
www.col.org/connections
www.col.org/kf
www.col.org/blog