UNESCO
United Nations, Education, Scientific, Cultural Organization
Global goals, local actions: Towards lifelong learning for all in 2030
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29th September 2017, Ireland
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Sophia Bekele, Founder of the DCA Group, was among the invited speakers of the International and August bodies of UNESCO's
Third International Conference on Learning Cities to address the importance of Life Long learning, Entrepreneurship and Employment.
Hosted by Cllr. Tony Fitzgerald, Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland,
the forum took place at the Cork City Hall, Concert Hall from 18 to 20 September 2017,
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the opening attended by high level delegates
including Mr. Richard Bruton, Minister for Education and Skills, Ireland, Mr. Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco, United States of America, Mr Stanley Mutumba Simataa, President of the General Conference of UNESCO, who also spoke at the official opening ceremony.
Mr Kabir Shaikh, Director a.i., UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning was present and presided over the UNESCO Learning City Award Ceremony
, at the Venue which was held at the Cork City Hall.
The conference gathered and invited speakers across the globe where a high number of delegates including
46 City Mayors, Municipalities, Councillors of Education, Professors of Life Long learning, Development, Smart City and Industry experts shared their experiences over several sessions on the conference which was themed:
"Global goals, local actions: Towards lifelong learning for all in 2030".
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Bekele @ UNESCO
"If you stop learning, you will forget what you already know" said the scripture, long ago, and I agree! |
Speaking as a panelist at the session on Promoting learning for employment and entrepren
eurship, Bekele said, that the Digital connectivity and IoTs play a critical role in bettering lives of the youths as it opens the door to unprecedented knowledge, employment and financial opportunities for billions of people worldwide.
She added t
hat lifelong Learning on sustainable Development of cities has benefits that include addressing inequalities in the various sectors of the economy, providing beneficiaries with the opportunity and know-how to pilot SMEs through entrepreneurship, enabling
job creation through innovations and creativity, enabling beneficiaries to obtain employment in the formal sector. It also contributes to improved living standards from high entrepreneurial activities and builds a key feedback mechanism to for critical analytics.
DCA Group is a Kenya based organization which Bekele Founded among many others during her Entrepreneurship, including San Francisco based ventures. Since its inception, DCA has been an advocate for the
value of education, employment and entrepreneurship for the African people. Through mission, values and goals, it has
led, promoted and advanced continuous learning by setting up
DCA Digital Academy to mentor youth and girls in Africa.
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The DCA Digital Academy, an affiliate of The DCA Trust,
has pioneered the Pan-African Women-In-Tech initiative, Miss.Africa and successfully implemented programs that include training as well as funding startups to empower women in STEM fields.
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Bekele emphasized that DCA Group has always believed in lifelong learning and through its programs the
DCA Digital Academy provides training on various topics, all related to the Internet so as to increase Internet literacy and promote lifelong learning in Africa. This provides the tools & skills to foster entrepreneurship & also connecting youth and women to innovation highways. This way, Africa can be part of the foundations of a technologically aware society. The DCA Digital Academy thus have synergy with
UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 16.
While encouraging participants not to stop learning, Bekele quoted a proverb from scripture that
"If you stop learning, you will forget what you already know"
Other panelists at the UNESCO forum included, Mr Kabir Shaikh, Director a.i., UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Ms Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, Deputy Executive Director, UN-Habitat, Mr Robert J. Didham, Deputy Director, Center for Collaborative Learning for Sustainable Development, UNESCO Chair for Education for Sustainable Lifestyles among others.
You can access Ms. Bekele's full presentation
here;
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About DotConnectAfrica Group
DotConnectAfrica Group makes up an integrative model of various Internet-centered digital products and services encompassing Domain Registry services, that handles Internet TLD registry and DNS businesses; new media and multimedia services as well as mobile applications along with an integrated digital social media platforms and an education platform under DCA Academy, that is managed by the organization.
The group is managed by DCA Trust, an independent, non-profit and non-partisan organization that is based in Port Louis, Mauritius (Reg.ID CT8710DCA90) with its registry operations located in Nairobi, Kenya. Its main charitable objects are: (a) for the advancement of education in information technology to the African society; and (b) in connection with (a) to provide the African society with a continental Internet domain name to have access to Internet services for the people of Africa as a purpose beneficial to the public in general.
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| Press Contact: Thomas Kamanzi, Newsletter Editor tkamanzi@dotconnectafrica.org
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