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Chapter 5Box 11: Enhancing TeacherEducation for Bridging theEducation QualityGap in AfricaThis four-year project is being implemented in eight Sub-Saharan African countries: Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Namibia, Tanzaniaand Uganda. It aims to boost the capacities of Ministries andteacher training institutes (TTIs) in pre-service and in-serviceteacher training through the use of ICTs, mobile learning,and knowledge production and sharing. More specifically,it seeks to enhance the capacity of existing key TTIs in:• Providing quality pre-service programmes to increasethe supply of qualified teachers, particularly throughICT-supported distance training programmes;• Supporting in-service teachers’ professional development,notably through blended learning modalities and programmesscaling up successful ICT-enabled innovations; and• Training teachers in ICT competences to improvethe quality of teaching and learning.The project also supports networks of TTIs that are exchanginginformation on effective strategies and practices in teacher trainingwith policy-makers, institutional leaders and other stakeholders.Source: https://en.unesco.org/enhancing-teacher-education-bridging-educationquality-gap-africa5.3.5Technology as a game changer in bridgingthe gender divideDespite recent advances in girls’education, a generation of youngwomen has been left behind, whocomprise around 61% of today’silliterate youth. The gender gap isespecially wide in South and WestAsia, where two out of three peoplewho cannot read are young women.Comparisons reveal widespreadilliteracy – in 9 of 41 low- andlower middle-income countries,more than half of 15- to 24-yearoldsare not literate 7 . Broadbandtechnology and services canhelp empower girls and womenwith literacy and life skills.UNESCO’s Mobile PhoneLiteracy – Empowering Womenand Girls project provides onegood example of this (Box 12).66