Addis Ababa, June 2006 - The first pan-African conference dedicated to eLearning exceeded all expectations. More than 800 people from 80 countries participated actively in the ambitious programme, expressing unambiguous enthusiasm for what they had experienced.


The organizers of eLearning Africa, ICWE GmbH Berlin and Hoffmann & Reif, deserve admiration for their vision and courage in convening the first private pan-African conference dedicated to this sphere of education that holds so much promise for the Continent.

They are also to be congratulated: the event, held from 24-26 May 2006 in Addis Ababa's UN Conference Center, exceeded all expectations. More than 800 people from 80 countries - more than 70 percent of them representing African countries - participated actively in the ambitious programme, expressing unambiguous enthusiasm for what they had experienced.

With more than 230 international experts presenting in five parallel conference strands and thirteen pre-conference workshops, the first eLearning Africa was graced with all the professional competence required of a powerful capacity-building event devoted to all aspects of technology-enhanced education and training.

The response of those in attendance demonstrated that Africa has built a significant community of specialists who considered eLearning Africa to be a valuable Continental meeting point for networking, discourse, and learning.

The conference opened with a welcome address by H.E. Ato Tefera Waluwa, Ethiopian Minister for Capacity Building and patron of eLearning Africa 2006. Chaired by H.E. Dr. Sintayehu Woldemichael, Ethiopian Minister of Education, the opening Plenary featured keynotes by Josephine Ouedraogo, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Dr. Cheick Diarra, Microsoft Chairman for Africa, Beth Mugo, Kenya Ministry
of Education, and the Indian Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Arjun Singh. Mr. Singh is also involved in the Indian - Pan-African e-network project.

eLearning Africa provided the venue for the creation of a new network of decision makers, helping to link representatives from government and public administration with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry, and important partners in
development cooperation.

The conference is foreseen as an annual event with a different African country serving as the host for each edition.