Finnish education system well presented in Senegal and at eLearning Africa conference

The Finland-Senegal Education Partnership Forum, held in Dakar on 23 May, brought together Finnish educational institutions and education companies with Senegalese stakeholders. The event was organised by Finnpartnership, Pathfinder Foundation from Senegal and the recently opened Embassy of Finland in Dakar. A dozen Finnish companies and educational institutions participated in the event. Participants were pleased with the networking opportunities, and several promising new partnerships were established during the event. The aim of the event was to move forward from general speeches and visions to practical solutions and find paths to concrete cooperation. This was achieved and the first Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were written.

The event also received surprisingly high media attention when a local, major national TV channel covered the event for almost five minutes in its main news broadcast, interviewing Ambassador Anu Saxen, Education Ambassador Marjaana Sall, and Programme Director Birgit Nevala. Some of the visitors at the conference even recognised the Finnish participants on the following day.

eLearning Africa, held this year in Dakar, is an annual trade fair organised in different African countries, focusing on the development of digital learning across Africa. Finnpartnership’s SDG Booster workshop “Becoming sustainable, self-reliant, equitable and resilient: the story of Finland is built on education”, organised on 25 May, was part of the official conference programme. Marjaana Sall, Ambassador for Education, spoke at the workshop. Additionally, three discussion groups, formed from companies and educational institutions, explored the challenges of digital learning, focusing on four countries: Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia (agriculture only). The groups will meet again digitally in the autumn. If you are interested in participating in the discussion groups, please contact us: paula.pihlava@finnpartnership.fi