Chapter 14: Building Learning Communities Around New Partnership For Africa’s Development E-Schools Initiative

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has been widely accepted as the framework for Africa’s development. A brainchild of the African Union (AU), NEPAD draws its legitimacy from the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and informed by the new thinking reflected in the Constitutive Act of the AU. The transformation of the OAU to AU and the birth of NEPAD mark the beginning of a new era for Africa. For the continent to take advantage of the new opportunities created by NEPAD and the AU and for it to undergo the renewal process, it will need to harness the energy, creativity, talent, and enthusiasm of all its people—including women, who constitute over 52% of its population, and the youth (those under 25 years) who constitute over 60% of the population.