Dear GESCI Partners and members of the GESCI Leadership Network for Sustainable Development We trust and believe that you are keeping safe with your family/loved ones at this time the world is dealing with the Corona Virus Pandemic. The pandemic has impacted negatively on education systems and to a large extent paralysed teaching and learning in all affected countries. Efforts by African Governments and key institutions to keep learning going are really appreciated. Most governments are now using national Radio/TV channels, newspapers and digital platforms to ensure students learn. These efforts are commendable as we understand that some school going kids might not be reached due to limited access to resources. GESCI keeps monitoring the situation and providing support wherever possible given education is one of our key areas of operation. COVID19 has greatly affected a lot of activities planned for this year. GESCI took the following measures in addressing the safety and well-being of its staff as well as assisting governments in our countries of operation to ensure learning continues:

• All staff continue to work from home, engaging online with the rest of the team.
• A Community of Practice set up is providing an avenue for discussions on addressing educational matters among teachers across the three countries; Kenya, Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire.
• The African Digital Schools Initiative (ADSI) team in Tanzania had just finished a Face t- Face Teacher Professional Training workshop on the Knowledge Creation cycle for module one and started school visits and classroom observations and now they are supporting teachers to go through the remaining units online through the ADSI teachers online learning platform
• In Kenya, GESCI is conducting online coding training for teachers from 80 secondary schools drawn from the counties of; Kiambu, Nyamira, Taita Taveta and Narok.
• In Cotè d’Ivoire, GESCI is supporting the Ministry of Education in packaging lessons for airing on national TV as well uploading to digital platforms where students can access it.
• We have also shared our existing Open Educational Resources Platform which contains lesson plans that teachers can use to develop learning materials for students.
• The Kenya ADSI team is currently packaging content for a learners’ open learning platform.
• Online engagement with partners and institutions to discuss more measures we can put in place to ensure learning continues.

GESCI is in full support of all measures, continually under review, by governments and partners to minimize the risk of COVID-19. We will continue to work with partners to share and disseminate best practices in delivering training and learning remotely.