ICT Skills for Women in Sierra Leone - the NUT and SLTU, A Perfect Partnership
ICT Skills for Women Teachers in Sierra Leone -
A Perfect Partnership
During 2007 the NUT was successful in securing funding from the TUC's International Development Learning Fund funded by DFID for an ICT Skills for Women Teachers project in Sierra Leone. The first course was delivered in June 2008 at the SLTU's training centre for teachers, Ho
tel 5 10. The funding has enabled the establishment of an impressive ICT suite.
The funding enabled a pilot programme, working in partnership with the Sierra Leone Teachers' Union (SLTU), for four ICT skills courses, accommodating twenty female teachers. The programme is based on the NUT's successfully established ICT Skills for Teachers programme and reflects our commitment to high quality professional development and training, as well as to international development.
One of the participants likened the ICT course to an operational theatre, where their eyes were operated on, and how after the course they can now see life and the whole world differently through the eyes of the internet and the memory stick as a walking stick leading them places.
The ICT skills gained from the programme will facilitate participants' capacity to develop their learning further through electronic networks and communication links, for example through the internet. It is anticipated that this will contribute to the teaching provided by women teachers to their pupils. It is also hoped that, once they have completed the programme, the teachers will disseminate what they have learnt to colleagues, thus maximising the impact of the programme.
At the completion of the project in November 2008 it is envisaged that the SLTU will continue to use the new facilities to provide further ICT training programmes, with the NUT supplying additional course materials to further develop Sierra Leonean teachers' ICT skills.
The NUT invited existing partners to work with the NUT to contribute to the project, including the Sierra Leone Teachers' Union, British Council in Sierra Leone, the VSO in Sierra Leone, Education Action International, Education International Africa, ITUC and the DFID office in Sierra Leone.
Following the success of this pilot project in Sierra Leone, the NUT plans to submit a bid to DFID to facilitate a similar programme in two other African countries. The sustainable benefits of the programme will additionally include the potential to develop capacity within the teacher organisations that work with the NUT on the programme.
Samidha Garg, Principal Officer (Race Equality and International Relations), NUT
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