Having planned to travel and physically attend the EEASA conference 2020 in South Africa, it’s cancellation due to coronavirus was a heart breaker for me. But then a move was made by the organizers to have the conference online, I was not so thrilled having had some disastrous online meetings before. Nonetheless, I went ahead to register and even invited as many friends as I could to be part of the conference. The online conference was scheduled for the 6th and 7th October 2020 and was to be conducted via Zoom.  On the first day, I logged in at 9 am and there was a welcome remark from the organizers firstly. Then we got a history of how EEASA started and just knowing that it was an initiative of incredible and dedicated but yet humble people some of whom are my colleagues is remarkable. The two days ended as soon as they began. The sessions were interactive, educational, and informative with inspirational speakers discussing real-life matters in education, policy, environment, agriculture among others. One of my best discussions was on climate change education and I felt as though the discussion should be pushed forward because climate change is a global [...]

This year’s Development Studies Association (DSA) Conference was due to be held in Birmingham (UK), but was transferred online due to restrictions related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.  The VET Africa 4.0 project was represented by Sidney Muhangi (Alice case study, South Africa).  The presentation entitled: “A Social skills ecosystem approach to workstream mapping for VET Africa 4.0 research: Initial insights from agricultural advisory services workstream”, formed part of the Skill Development and Rural Transformation Panel. Thank you to Sidney and Heila for putting together the presentation, and to Simon, Presha and the Uganda team who were involved in the development of this topic at various stages.             You can see Sidney's video presentation here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BPNDMYBkeenMzrNqp1-dBjjikUbVwuhi/view

The VET Africa 4.0 team is pleased to congratulate our project colleague Scovia Adrupio who was recognised as an Outstanding Assistant Rotaract Representative in both Uganda and Tanzania.  We know that Scovia is an outstanding member of the community and is passionate about creating positive change, but it is also great to see her being honoured in this way.  She is also a brilliant team member. Congratulations Scovia!  From all the VET Africa 4.0 team.

Hello, I am David Ocan, a researcher with VET AFRICA 4.0 and working on the Gulu case study. On the 25th Feb 2020, I made a maiden trip to the UK which was the first time I was travelling outside Africa and the second time I was making a trip on a plane in two months after travelling to South Africa in January.  My second trip was exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time as I was travelling alone, unlike the South African trip where I travelled with the whole team.So, this UK trip was the first time in many ways: first time travelling alone, first time travelling long distance, and first time travelling to a Western country. When I shared with some of my team members my fears I was offered various advice like “Heathrow is a very huge airport and it is easy to get lost in it”, and “many people travel so when the plane lands you may not even see the person who will welcome you in the airport”.One team member said I should not talk to anybody apart from the authorities as bad people tend to smell first time travellers and they can put [...]

The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a large impact all around the world. In Uganda, the government reacted quickly by closing the borders, schools, non-essential businesses and banning travel and movement in general. The message was clear: stay home. The impact on youth livelihoods in Northern Uganda as a result of these measures will need to be studied. In terms of our research, the measures arrived as we are in the middle of data collection, and initially it left us scrambling. At first, we waited to see how long the restrictions would last, but as it became increasingly apparent that they are here for a while, we had to try to find a way to collect data in different ways. In Uganda, especially in the rural regions of Hoima and Gulu, it is not practical to move online because most people do not have access to or understanding of webchat platforms such as ZOOM. So, we have returned to our adult education roots, and taken to the radio. Community Learning Café and on-air data collection In Gulu, we were on the verge of hosting one of our Community Learning Cafe’s, to capture youth aspirations, challenges, and pathways in VET and we [...]