The second video conference and local discussion session for the sixth Microfinance Training of Trainers Course (MFTOT 6), launched on July 16, was held at TDLC on August 20.
The MFTOT course is a core program offered periodically at TDLC which aims to train trainers of the Microfinance Distance Learning Course through a blended learning method.
A video lecture and participating sites are captured on screen in Pakistan. Photo courtesy of NWFP University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar/TDLC
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), established in Kobe, Japan in 1998 to enhance disaster resilience of its member countries and to build safe communities, is a strong partner of TDLC in knowledge-sharing activities on disaster risk management.
In a bid to share Japanese expertise in disaster risk management with fellow Asian countries, a video lecture was organized with our technical support in mid-August.
Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh were connected with Tokyo, where a renowned expert on building structure and earthquake engineering lectured on the ‘Fundamentals of Structural Dynamics’.
Program participants in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia raise their arms as they follow instructions from TDLC via video conference in an exercise to reduce stress, part of a lecture on psychological assessment and care during pregnancy and childbirth March 6, 2009.
“Childbirth Nursing Training” or “Happy Mothers, Happy Children”, one of the core outreach programs at Tokyo Development Learning Center, is designed to train mother and child care specialists in Mongolia through distance learning. To date, hundreds of nurses have participated in the course. Here’s a look behind the scenes.
With MFTOT6 now underway, TDLC’s newest staff member has seized the learning opportunity. Mirei Nishimura will be providing personal reports as the course progresses, beginning with her reflections from Day 1. TDLC/KK
ADBI’s John West kicks off the opening of MFTOT6 at TDLC as participants are linked from six overseas sites as shown on screen July 16, 2009. TDLC/KK
TDLC Technical Operations Officer Iain Mitchell works on a videoconference connection at the Tokyo hub July 13, 2009. TDLC/Eriko Sugita
A GDLN Asia Pacific general meeting session is underway in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia July 1, 2009 . TDLC/Photo courtesy of Michael Foley
Nergui Sandagjav , Mongolia’s first Microfinance Training for Trainers-certified trainer, waves in an undated picture taken in Ulaanbaatar. TDLC/Photo courtesy of Nergui Sandagjav
What are your images of Mongolia?
Perhaps in Japan, Mongolian-born sumo grand champions Asashoryu and Hakuho come to mind.
But a harsh reality of the central Asian country is its state of poverty. One in three people is described as poor.
Nergui Sandagjav, who has worked in microfinance, poverty reduction and rural community development for the past decade, became Mongolia’s first certified MFTOT tutor in 2005.
“We need to contribute to deeper understanding of the causes of inequality and poverty, and disseminate knowledge on successful strategies.” Nergui has now launched an NGO to further her fight for poverty reduction and sustainable development, in her quest to make a difference. Here is her story…
“Microfinance changes people’s lives”, says Muhammad Hassan, a banker in Pakistan.
In the face of poverty, he has seen people living on a dollar a day and parents selling their children, right in his own hometown.
Hassan took the MFTOT course, became a certified trainer, and has been working on the dissemination of microfinance, to enable everyone to seek decent lives and to go after their dreams. This is a glimpse at Hassan’s ongoing story – as he strives to make a difference.
Ministers of ASEAN + 3 countries assembled in Bangkok on Friday in an emergency meeting to discuss the current situation of the A/H1N1 crisis, part of a two-day session that linked together Bangkok, Washington, Geneva, and Atlanta by video, through technical support provided by Tokyo Development Learning Center.
Participants in 7 countries will now be able to study the Microfinance Training of Trainers (MFToT) Course in their own language. By popular demand, the World Bank/Tokyo Development Learning Center, Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Planet Finance Japan and course “graduates” have collaborated to implement an ambitious localization plan in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Mongolia. The workbook and interactive computer-based instruction CD-ROM for participants are being translated into each language, and will be available for trial use in the current MFToT 5 course.
As inflation becomes an increasingly serious concern across Asia, economic managers are grappling with urgent questions on how best to formulate a response. To meet this need for knowledge, the Global Development Learning Network in the Asia Pacific Region (GDLN AP) launched a distance learning seminar series on Economic Management in collaboration with the World Bank. The first session, “Today’s Inflation: Global Context and Local Solutions” targeting economic decision makers in the Asia Pacific region, was held on June 5 and 6, 2008 with a total of 15 sites in 11 countries connecting over 2 days.
Youths from Africa and Asia “gathered” via GDLN
videoconference on May 26, 2008 to share knowledge and exchange views on achieving a vibrant Africa.
On the occasion of TICAD IV (Tokyo International Conference on African Development), the session was organized by the TDLC, World Bank Tokyo Office and UNICEF to provide a platform for future leaders to voice their opinions.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour made a special appearance at the TDLC and pushed the younger generation to take an active role in the decision making process.
View the session webcast (archive).
In a training course developed by the TDLC, teachers and instructors across Asia sat in a virtual classroom to learn how ICTs can be incorporated to enhance multicultural education. Designed to accompany Kids Initiative, a program that enables school children to conduct exchanges with counterparts in other countries through GDLN videoconference, teachers across borders showed a strong interest in new methods of education to prepare children to meet the challenges of globalization.
When Yae Yoshino, Lecturer at Kitasato University’s School of Nursing, visited Mongolia, she was struck by the textbooks that young nurses were using. They weren’t really “books” at all, but thin booklets translated from Russian, imported from the former Soviet Union. Not much was up to date – including nursing education. Inspired by the highly motivated nurses and midwives she met there, Yoshino contacted the TDLC to inquire about distance learning opportunities, and a partnership was born.
The Kenya Development Learning Centre (KDLC) was launched on November 9, 2007, becoming the 12th member of the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) in Africa. With the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) scheduled for next year, Africa ranks high on the agenda of the Japanese development community. The new center in Kenya and the TDLC can capitalize on the need for Asia-Africa cooperation in both the public and private sectors.
The Kenya Center launch and the welcome video displayed at the beginning of the event is available for view on the GDLN website.
Francophone countries in Africa have now begun receiving JICA-Net seminars in French via the GDLN. The inaugural sessions conducted in October 2007 both focused on principles that Japan has become famous for - “KAIZEN” and “One Village One Product”. The TDLC began delivering JICA-Net Seminars to Anglophone Africa in October 2005, counting 28 seminars to date, and responded to demand from French speaking centers as well.
The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) embraces e-learning on an unprecedented scale this summer, providing 3 training programs in 9 phases for more than 900 participants in 16 countries via the GDLN. Amounting to roughly 40% of the total number trained by the organization annually in face-to-face sessions, the APO hopes to intensify its focus on e-learning as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional training methods.
The Ho Chi Minh City Development Learning Center received an enthusiastic welcome from the GDLN community at its official launch on June 26, 2007. The second center to open in Vietnam after Hanoi, the new center will deliver knowledge initiatives connecting the world with Ho Chi Minh, a city known for a vibrant private sector and trade environment which plays a pivotal role in the nation’s economy.
The first GDLN Asia Pacific General Meeting hosted by the TDLC concluded on June 21, 2007, capping three days of intensive discussions with a ｃlosing session on future governance objectives for the network.
Read more on GDLN AP General Meeting Page.
A comprehensive guide with all you need to know to conduct effective blended learning sessions using the GDLN has been completed with the support of the TDLC. Titled “Effective Blended Learning for Development – Harnessing the Power of the Global Development Learning Network”, the guide takes the form of an accessible “Learning Binder” consisting of 9 short papers that cover basic concepts, terminologies, program design and implementation.
The authors, TDLC Senior Instructional Designer Jiping Zhang and Education and Training Consultant Charles Maguire have drawn widely from the rich experience of the GDLN, which now spans over 80 countries, incorporating real-life examples illustrating innovative uses of the network.
See full story to download the Learning Binder.
“The TDLC has achieved a great deal in a short timeframe, and it is likely that with continued focus, the original aims can be achieved…”
The TDLC is pleased to report that it has received high marks in a mid-term review conducted by a panel of experts to evaluate its performance in the first two and a half years of the 5-year project. The TDLC was initiated in October 2003 as the Japan/World Bank Distance Learning Partnership Project.The review is intended to guide the second half of the project and includes observations and suggestions for the future
The full report and a summary prepared by the TDLC is available on the Key Documents page.
“I am very excited about our work here and the challenges ahead.”
Lester Dally, the World Bank’s Acting Special Representative in Japan, spoke enthusiastically of raising the Japan-World Bank partnership to new heights upon his arrival in Tokyo in January 2007. A strong supporter of the TDLC who played a key role in its inception, Mr.Dally hopes to ensure closer cooperation between the Bank and the TDLC.
The Dili Distance Learning Center (DDLC), the Global Development Learning Network affiliate in Timor-Leste, has become instrumental in providing much-needed knowledge and expertise for the region’s newest nation.The force behind it is its manager, João Loução. Together with his training coordinator, Ildefonso da Silva, Joao has brought amazing energy to the Center to make it a hive of activity. Its utilization rate has averaged 40-45%, reaching 74% in March 2006—not an easy task under difficult circumstances.
The Vietnam Development Information Center (VDIC), the GDLN affiliate in Hanoi, is ready for business — and its energetic new manager, Linh Hoai Nguyen, is exploring opportunities for collaboration with Japanese development agencies through the TDLC. Based on the cooperative relationship between the two centers, the TDLC invited Linh to visit Tokyo in April 2006 to accelerate business development between Japan and Vietnam.
