Commonwealth of Learning

Published purpose

This grant represents Canada's long term institutional support to the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). The COL uses these funds, along with other donor funding, to achieve its mandate. The COL’s mandate is to help governments, institutions and organizations expand the scale, efficiency and quality of learning by using appropriate open, distance and technology-enabled learning. Project activities aim to strengthen member countries’ capacities to develop the human resources required for their economic and social development. The work of the COL is guided by its 2015-2021 Strategic Plan. Through this plan, the COL focuses its programming on two sectors, education and skills, with gender equality as a cross-cutting theme. In the education sector, the COL supports countries, institutions and organizations in their development of formal education mechanisms, including open schooling, higher education, the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth and teacher education. In the skills sector, the COL supports institutions and organizations in developing formal and non-formal learning opportunities that focus on healthy communities, technical and vocational skills development and technology enabled learning.