CLCpedia – a new online source on community learning centres

CLCpedia is a new website that offers a one-stop resource for all community learning centres (CLC). It consolidates and streamlines information gathered from previous regional UNESCO CLC conferences and workshops and also adds access to a wide array of information from the last seven years.

Developed by the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, CLCpedia is an online information tool designed for CLC experts, researchers, practitioners and stakeholders. It was created to cater to the growing need for improved sharing of CLC data and information. CLCpedia is a central repository of presentations, reports, case studies, training materials and other useful references, organised thematically and by country. Online users are invited to share and contribute to the online collection of CLC data and information.

CLCpedia is accessible at http://www.clcpedia.net/

Community learning centres are local educational institutions, usually set up and managed by local communities to provide various learning opportunities with the support of the government, NGOs, and the private sector. The aim of a CLC is to empower individuals and promote community development through lifelong education for all people in the community, including adults, youth and children of all ages. As of now, as many as 24 countries have established CLCs or similar non-formal education (NFE) centres. The number of countries supporting CLCs has been steadily increasing. In the Asia-Pacific region there are an estimated 170,000 CLCs and NFE centres.

As the leading professional organisation at the intersection of adult education and development cooperation, DVV International has been supporting the creation of CLCs in various countries worldwide, from Morocco to Georgia and Laos. Additionally, issue 81/2014 of the institute’s journal “Adult Education and Development” dealt with community learning in all its forms. All articles can be accessed at the journal’s website www.dvv-international.de/adult-education-and-development/

Source of text: UIL/UNESCO/DVV International