The Association of National Accountants of Kenya Conference, held in November 24-26, 2023, has been concluded. The organizers wishes to thank every participant for the conference.
Building on the outcomes of the 2023 conference held in Nairobi – Kenya, the conference was an important milestone for everyone concerned with how research can be used to support and improve both the accessibility and quality of education and training in Africa.
ANAK members, non-members, and experts from various countries gathered during the three conference days at the Kenyata International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. All the participants came from African countries.
This year’s conference brought together a diverse group of practitioners, experts, donors, suppliers, and others interested in using the tools of the information revolution to improve the educational and training opportunities available to the people of Africa.
ANAK conference once again served as the continental hub to researchers, experts, academics, and the public, as well as to development organizations, who used the event to hold their meetings before or after the gathering in Nairobi.
Lastly, the conference’s success was also due to the excellent cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Kenya. The local organizing committee, with its several working groups, provided the organizers with tremendous support, especially in situations where on-site support was essential.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The conference agenda mixed presentations, expert sessions, networking opportunities, and discussion sessions. It provided ample opportunities for everyone who took part to gain knowledge, exchange experience, and generally build their network of professionals from Africa as well as other parts of the globe.
Set in the open and friendly atmosphere of Nairobi, this was a conversation where opinions were expressed, information was exchanged, and plans were implemented for future cooperation.
The main conference agenda, formulated with the support of the conference’s Advisory and Review Committees as well as with the input of the local Organizing Committee in Kenya, featured 5 speakers and chairpersons from different countries and offered an abundance of opportunities for participants to learn, share and network with colleagues from all over the world. With four plenary sessions, 34 sessions in 11 parallel conference strands, 48 demonstrations and best practice examples, networking sessions, 14 pre-conference events, and several exciting new features, ANAK 2023 made a considerable contribution towards the building of an African capacity in research-enhanced education and training.
PLENARY SESSIONS
ANAK 2023 was officially opened on Friday, Nov 24th, by the President of the association, who spoke about the urgent need for Africa to embrace research to educate the continent to compete in the knowledge age.
Speakers in the Opening Plenary included Prof Kenneth John, a renowned researcher, and Prof Ojesu Darkwa, who spoke about research, new educational paradigms, and the need for Africa not to be left behind.
A highly provocative panel discussion on Friday evening, chaired by Prof Tim Beth of the Partnerships for Education Programme, provided an opportunity to discuss whether research-supported learning in Africa was slowing down or not. He was joined by Becky. Gordon, Director General, Deck Centre of Excellence in ICT, Michael Kimali, AfroDev SA, and Denise Clarke, Programme Facilitator, KALCO, Ghana, for this discussion, which attracted considerable audience participation. Several questions posed by the audience focused on how links with existing initiatives can be strengthened to avoid duplication and improve levels of sustainability and on the relationship between donors and national governments and agencies in specific countries. Issues related to the difficulties in introducing change to traditional teaching methodologies also emerged as well as recommendations related to specific approaches like open source and tools like mobile phones.
The plenary session that took place on Friday, brought several thought leaders together to share their ideas on the role played by research. John Cleman, from BEAM, Namibia, spoke about global access to research in Africa while Mike Ojelum, Education Solutions Director with Maco discussed the critical role of innovation in 21st Century Learning. Maria Eugenia Arreola, Programme Officer with the United Nations Environment Programme in Kenya, spoke about the conference program to mainstream environmental education with the support of research, and Tiba Swori, Vice President of AEAN Corporation, USA, highlighted the accounting vision and strategy for the take-up of research in Africa.
During the closing plenary session on Sunday evening, the Hon Monica Wenema brought the conference to a close.
