Asking teachers, trainers, entrepreneurs or policy makers to be creative and innovative may seem easy but fostering a creative environment and leveraging valuable ideas that result in effective and efficient teaching and learning processes have proven to quite a challenge. Meeting this challenge often requires a substantial reorientation of development policies as well as institutional adjustments. It is in this context that since 2006, ADEA has been organising Innovation Fairs as an official side event so as to provide a forum to learn and share knowledge, experience and innovative policies and practices related to education. The 2012 ADEA Triennale’s Innovation and Knowledge Fair also provides the opportunity to stakeholders to challenge existing approaches to education, training and research in Africa through exposure to new thinking, innovative pedagogy, practices and technology. Through peer-to-peer learning and support, the fair helps to recognise strategies that work faster and better while avoiding costly mistakes. In order to ensure that Africa keeps pace with the global revolution of knowledge and its use, stakeholders must communicate with one another and collaborate.
ADEA in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Literacy (MENA) of Burkina Faso is organizing a Fair on innovation and Kowledge during the Triennale on successful innovative experiences and best practices in the area of education and training systems that promote critical knowledge, skills and qualifications for sustainable development.
The overall objective of this Fair is to showcase innovative experiences and share knowledge on successful development activities on education, training and research in Africa to an array of stakeholders attending the Triennale in order to promote “critical knowledge, skills and qualifications for sustainable development in Africa.” This Fair seeks to include ministries of education, training, employment etc., regional economic communities and pan-African organizations, members of the civil society, private sector, young leaders, the diaspora, education experts and agencies. The diverse representation at the Fair will lead to a more comprehensive range of innovative best practices.
The Fair will be held alongside the plenary and parallel sessions. Participants in the Fair will showcase their experiences through various types of presentations: publications, audio‐visual applications, demonstrations, story-telling etc. Daily ongoing presentations will be organized to share and promote meaningful best practices relevant to the prioritized needs of African countries in light of the theme of the Triennale.