The COVID-19 pandemic, has caused unprecedented disruption in the entire world.  Protocols enforcing social distancing, movement lockdowns, travel restrictions, and other related measures have overnight affected businesses and institutions forcing them to adapt and change quickly.  Educational and training institutions are affected drastically as the traditional model of students and trainees physically attending the classes is not possible.   To cope with the situation, educational and training institutions have devised strategies like shifting to digital technologies and platform, conducting classes through the video conference, devising e-learning etc. However, this process has several challenges on the part of the teachers/trainers, students/trainees and technology. These interruptions will not just be a short-term issue, but can have long-term consequences to the training and education ecosystem. The current situation has driven everyone to rethink cooperative training and education.

The virtual roundtable organised in collaboration with VAMNICOM aimed to:

• To understand the impact of COVID-19 on educational and training institutions;
• To learn from the experiences of countries regarding strategies to adopt digital technologies (like video conferencing, e-learnings, etc.), and methods of online teaching/training;
• To study the financial and social implications of the adoption of different platforms on training institutions, trainers and students;
• To create an online network of institutions involved in cooperative training/education.

Stay tuned for more details on the virtual roundtable!