I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the work done for COMOSA during my time of office as chair of the African chapter.
The purpose of dividing COMOSA into chapters is to allow practitioners in the region with similar situations to share best practices and to overcome common challenges through collaborative efforts. I am excited to state that the Africa chapter has done well in this regard for being able to identify common challenges and strengths that exist within the region.
During the period 2015- 2017, the Africa chapter identified capacity building and quality assurance as main focus areas for interventions.
With financial support from the Commonwealth of Learning, the Africa chapter managed to develop common quality assurance criteria for two institutions, namely IEDA of Mozambique and LDTC of Lesotho. The two institutions were trained on quality assurance peer auditing in two separate interventions. The implementations plan and the way forward was drawn up for the institutions to continue.
In terms of capacity building, COL availed funds to support the training intervention in Technology Enabled Learning workshop that took place in January 2017 in Johannesburg, SA. About 18 participants from eight African countries benefited from the workshop.
I am further delighted to be part of the team that worked on the new constitution to change COMOSA into a fully Community of Practice in 2017. The main purpose of re-designing COMOSA is to open up the membership and to allow individuals who want to contribute to this dynamic body of Open School practitioners to do so. COMOSA promotes the use of technology by introducing COMOSA Connect as a platform through which members can share and collaborate.
I should, however, admit that the change brought about some resistance from old members that resulted in poor participation and contributions from COMOSA members within the region. This in my view can be attributed to lack of technological skills, and I have no doubt that as time passes by, members will start enjoying the benefits of COMOSA via COMOSA Connect.
Finally, I would like to thank the Commonwealth of Learning, Ms. Frances Ferreira and Dr. Johannes Hendrikz for giving me the opportunity to make a contribution through this dynamic organization. Long live COMOSA.
