Close the year successfully, who would't want that? Despite the fact that 2020 was a difficult and turbulent year for many, great things have also happened. We, from the Academy, can proudly celebrate our successes. In 2020, the Academy for Professional Development has made its contributions in online learning for South Sudan. We are so extremely proud of this! In April 2020, we launched the AforPD online learning environment for South Sudan including the online CV writing course. Only a couple of weeks ago (just before Christmas) we handed over the online learning environment for Civil Society Facility South Sudan. Obviously, we couldn't have done this without our partner Efran.
The Academy is focused on innovative ways of training adults in South Sudan. We encounter difficulties during our training but most important is that we understand how adults learn in South Sudan. That's exactly the reason why our training methodology is so successful in South Sudan. It also the reason why we have taken up the challenge of making online learning accessible to adults in South Sudan. Our online learning is based on a blended learning approach.
The educational system in South Sudan is very poor as well as the quality of education. Many international donors are working hard to improve the educational system and make it possible for girls to go to (primary) school as well. Although improvement is there, there is still a lot to do. It has been for decades that the government has not invested in education. When today's adults were children, the education system was even worse and its impact is visible on a daily basis. That is not to say that today's adults can be trained in an innovative way. That's exactly where Civil Society Fund (CSF), the Academy & Efran found each other!
CSF South Sudan is a long term program providing capacity building support that is more demand-led and contextualised. CSF was looking for an innovative way to train civil society organizations in South Sudan, make training available to more people but with less travel in the country to reduce costs. The online learning environment together with converting an existing Financial Management course into an online course is developed by Efran & the Academy.
CSF South Sudan is the first program in South Sudan to have its own online learning environment and is ready to launch it in 2021. From 2021, Civil Society Organizations in South Sudan will have access to an online Financial Management Course. And this is just the beginning.