June 13 – 17 — The Education Collaborative held its first in-person Convening since 2019, bringing together 188 participants from across 23 countries and over 60 education institutions. Also drawing from the virtual convenings held during the pandemic, The Education Collaborative adopted a hybrid format for the 2022 Annual Convening, also welcoming some 200 online participants.
“Coming back in person allowed us to reconnect more closely with members in the network, be hands-on, build deeper relationships, and experience the power of working together to create an education system that supports the development agenda of Africa,” shared Rose Dodd, Director of The Education Collaborative. “And at the same time, taking advantage of the hybrid model, we expanded our reach to other participants who were unable to join us physically.”
Held across two venues, at Ashesi University in Berekuso and the Accra Marriott Hotel in Accra, the Convening was on the theme Building the capacity of institutions to improve African higher-ed outcomes. The five-day program, which featured workshops, plenary sessions, an executive symposium, and a commitment summit, was structured across four tracks: Ethics and Leadership Development, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development, Career and Employability System Development, and Entrepreneurship Pedagogy.
“It was a great opportunity to learn what academia is doing in terms of entrepreneurship to help us figure out how we can engage on that level,” shared Dr. Kagonya Awori, a first-time attendee and a Senior Applied Scientist Microsoft Africa Research Institute (MARI). “The Convening also allows us to build key partnerships, create awareness for MARI, and share how we can support users and African business owners with relevant tech solutions for their work.”
“This is a wonderful platform to share and appreciate the individual values we bring to the table, especially from the practical and enterprise side,” shared Dr. Peter Bamkole, Director, Enterprise Development Center, Pan Atlantic University, Nigeria. “It is also important to continue pushing how we can connect our strengths across the continent. The Convening allows us to do this, ensuring the impact will be spread across the continent and not only be one-sided.”
Scaling Impact over the Years
From hosting 25 people in the inaugural edition in 2017 to welcoming over 300 participants in the 2022 edition, the Annual Convening continues to grow steadily in empowering institutions across Africa to engage one another on transformational and developmental focus areas to improve educational outcomes on the continent.
“Over the years, the growth of the Collaborative, from 25 participants in our first Convening to welcoming over 300 this year, indicated the desire and strong need for connection among educational institutions on the continent,” shared Rose Dodd. “It is high time we begin to look forward in our learnings and what we share to develop the outcomes for students that we want to achieve.”
In the years since its founding, The Education Collaborative has engaged over 150 higher education institutions, supported over 280 educators and administrators, and impacted over 116,000 students in Africa. In continuing to scale its impact, the Education Collaborative has adopted a regional hub model anchored on ensuring institutions receive the needed support to reach their goals.
“As a collaborative, we are aware that higher-ed institutions, whether universities or technical or vocational institutions, can push the much-needed human capital to create the development we need on the continent,” shared Lizzie Chongoti, East Africa Regional Hub Director. “While the Annual Convening is an excellent opportunity to drive conversations and initiatives in this regard, we operationalize our work through the different regional hubs to achieve the impact we need; East, West, Francophone, and Central. This way, we can work across the various hubs, and also work within the hubs that we find ourselves in.”
