By Rebecca Stromeyer
Over 40 per cent of Africa’s population is younger than 24 years old. 198 million Africans, 20 per cent of the continent’s population, are aged between 15 and 24 – the largest percentage of young people anywhere in the world.

Children (under the age of 15) account for another 20 per cent. eLearning Africa 2011 will focus on this group and its huge potential.

African youth constitutes a vast reservoir of talent, skills and opportunity but it faces many difficult challenges. Simply staying alive, safe, healthy, educated and employable are each daunting tasks for the majority of young people.

In the World Youth Report 2007, the United Nations acknowledged that poverty, violence and limited access to education, health and employment are inescapable for many African youngsters. Furthermore, the potential for learning of significant numbers of young people all over the world, particularly in Africa, remains severely compromised despite significant advances in new technologies.

eLearning Africa 2011 will focus on youth but it will also highlight the importance of skills, skill development and employability.

Is it appropriate then to refer to Africa’s youth as ‘digital natives’ or ‘Generation Y’? Whilst the majority of Africa’s young population can be more appropriately considered as ‘digital outcasts,’ there are layers of African youth who have had varying experiences with ‘growing up digitally’. What are these experiences and how are they manifested?
eLearning Africa 2011 will present the perspectives of young people, parents, teachers, community members, governments, companies and civil society organisations.

It will look at attempts to include disadvantaged young Africans in the digital age.

Discuss policies that promote the use of new technologies to reach youngsters, especially those out of work and out of school.

Explore how technologies can enable young people living in Africa to become the driving force for social and economic prosperity.

Compare their experience with that of their contemporaries in other parts of the world
The conference is expected to attract 1,778 participants from 78 countries, 86 per cent from Africa. There will be 323 speakers and chairpersons from 51 countries, 65 per cent from Africa. Some 16 ministers and one head of state from nine countries (Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) will also be there.

About 52 journalists from five countries (Germany, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) will cover the event in Tanzania, which is increasingly becoming a top conference tourism spot in east and central Africa. And about 52 exhibitors from 16 countries are expected to showcase their digital products and services and related items.
eLearning Africa 2011 will also highlight the importance of skills, skill development and employability.

There is a global skills shortage, particularly in youth employability. Young people need to understand not only how to find a job but how to keep it and how to find a new one, if necessary. Reports from countries in Europe and Africa reveal that young people leaving schools and universities do not have the requisite skills to enter the workforce.

How are people and organisations, both globally and in Africa, coping with skills deficits and the employability crisis? Why are these deficits not being addressed effectively by our education systems? What skills development and lifelong learning programmes are under way to help address these shortages?

eLearning Africa 2011 will explore these questions with regard to six broad themes.

The author is the managing director of ICWE GmbH an international conference organiser with a focus on education, which will organise eLearning Africa 2011.

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