People working in the informal economy face many barriers to skills training. As part of COL’s efforts to increase access to affordable learning opportunities, COL has partnered with INVEST Africa to support partner institutions in expanding technical and vocational education and training for marginalized groups.

In May of this year, COL Adviser for open educational resources (OER) Dr Ishan Abeywardena, along with consultant Jan Deurwaarder, ran a six-day workshop on non-formal OER course development at the Yaba College of Technology (YCT) in Lagos, Nigeria. The workshop was designed to build capacity at YCT in developing short non-formal courses using OER content where appropriate and producing learning resources in a range of different media formats as OER.

The workshop hosted approximately 50 participants and resulted in 26 non-formal course blueprints which will lead to 26 non-formal courses made available as OER under a CC-BY license. Further, staff participants were trained in instructional design and use of OER, skills they can take into future endeavors.

The workshop, a collaboration between COL’s technical and vocational skills development (TVSD) and OER for Skills Development initiatives, built on a workshop conducted in 2015 by the education specialist for TVSD Dr Alison Mead Richardson and active engagement on the online community of practice for INVEST Africa partners – the Community Learning Network.