Governance Curriculum/Steering Committee 050908

Meeting of Friday 5 September 2008

Members Participating by Conference Call

Garton Kamchedzea (Coventry), Kara Irwin (London), Tanyss Munro (Vancouver), John Barker (Toronto)

1. Kara reported on her meeting with Sir John Daniel, Director and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning on 2 September 2008 in London. Sir John expressed his support for the community-based activities of CGI and requested additional information about A4ID.

2. Progress on Matembo Nzunda Memorial Lecture Series

Discussion on ideas for lecturers. The use of podcasts was considered, especially at local level. It was acknowledged that it was necessary to begin with target audiences. "Meta-materials" such as lecture notes, facilitator notes, teaching aids were considered. Mike Hopkins, a professional media specialist, has gone to Malawi to assist Sarah Rogers and will arrange for the series to be taped and turned into a documentary. Garton met Thoko Ngwira who conveyed the Faculty's strong support for the Lecture Series

3. Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) Mandate

Tanyss Munro provided an update on ideas for COL’s involvement which must focus on community-level involvement She stressed that the designers must derive the programme from an identified need. One must design a response so that learning outcomes address the identified need. It is best to build on what is already started, be aware what is happening already and use it so that new initiatives can be embedded into existing frameworks and programmes.

4. Garton's trip to Malawi

Garton reported that his trip went well and he took the opportunity to consider how the CGI could harmonise with the UNDP Democracy Consolidation Programme (DCP) with which he was working. It is a civil society development initiative that promotes a human rights based approach to service delivery. In 2008 the DCP added local governance to its programme. The programme managers expressed enthusiasm for the possibility of partnering on the GCI Child Rights Project, although no formal arrangement was agreed at that early stage. Garton drew attention to the need for practical results in Adult learning, not just knowledge and principles, important though these were.

5. Training in Administrative Law

John briefed the Committee on progress toward a programme. Communications had gone to the Malawi Government to secure permission to incorporate previously published materials into the programme and a response is awaited. All those who had been involved with the development of the materials have been contacted and have expressed their support.

6. Child Rights Project Details

It is proposed to train 7 districts per year over 4 years with a programme to train the trainers of local government facilitators. It will be important to focus on local government structures such as assemblies, service providers, Chiefs, Village Development Committees and Area Development Committees.

7. Logical Framwork for GCI

Garton and John will provide a draft.

8. Next Planning Consultation

It was decided to hold the next planning consultation in November to provide sufficient time and to accommodate diaries. Date to be fixed upon further consultations with potential participants.