Ethiopia to host first African confab on chemistry education

The first-ever African conference on Research In Chemistry Education [ACRICE-1]  will be hosted by the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in December 2013, reports NaijaAgroNet.

President of the Federation of African Societies of Chemistry (FASC) Dr. Temechegn Engida, confirmed this to NaijaAgroNet, saying that FASC and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, will be co-host at the event. He noted that at the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU) the conference has become imperative and has been scheduled for December 5-7, 2013.

ACRICE-1, Dr. Engida said, will bring together university staff members, chemistry educators and chemistry teachers from across African continent and the world at large and provide a unique pan-African forum for the sharing ideas and new findings to solve education problems in African countries.

Participants at the confab with the theme: Chemical Education for the Human Development in Africa, FASC president said, will examine a wide range of pedagogical best practices that address local and global issues in educating African students for total quality in the global age.

Therefore, ACRICE conference, Dr. Engida pointed out, is intended as a platform for understanding and enriching education for preparation of African citizens who are able to deal with local and global challenges.

To this end, FASC is calling on educators and researchers at all levels to share vital knowledge and strategies for teaching and learning in culturally responsive ways, capable of boosting chemistry for sustainable development in Africa.

 
Remmy Nweke
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

ICT4ag: CTA launches media contests for ACP countries

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) in collaboration with its national, regional and international partners has launched the 2013 edition of African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) media competition on Information and Communications Technologies for Agricultural Development (ICT4ag).

Media Programme Coordinator, at CTA, Mr. Sam Mikenga informed NaijaAgroNet that the competition is open to all media and communication professionals from the ACP.

He also said that the competition aims at encouraging journalists and media specialists to investigate the challenges and opportunities for involving use of ICTs in value chains and decision making, showcase success stories and best practices that could be replicated and raise awareness on the important role of ICTs in agricultural transformation.

Mikenga said that the competition is orgaanised in conjunction with the International Conference on ICT4ag, which will take place from November 4 to 8, 2013 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Stressing that the top six finalists will be supported to attend the conference and provide media coverage. The top three winners will be announced during the event. While submissions are invited to discuss one or more of the following themes, namely “Enabling environment for ICTs (capacity, ICT policies, regulatory regimes, infrastructure, etc); Youth and gender aspects; Access to markets and trade.

He, therefore advised interested candidates to send in one original print piece in English or French to media@ict4ag.cta.int, copying mikenga@cta.int by 15 August 2013. 

Remmy Nweke

... Linking agrobiz, people & technology