 The fifth Pan-Communal Forum on Open Learning, PCF-5, was held in July 2008 at the University of London's Institute of Education. The forum is hosted every two years by the Commonwealth of Learning, an intergovernmental organization that helps developing countries improve access to quality education and training. The theme of PCF-5 was access to learning for development. More than 700 delegates from 70 countries attended the forum, representing Commonwealth governments, education institutions and non-governmental organizations. It was the largest ever Pan-Communal Forum on Open Learning. The forum was organized around four main themes, children and young people, governance, conflict and social justice, health and livelihoods. Over four days, more than 300 papers were presented around these four themes. Prior to the opening of PCF-5, the President of the Commonwealth of Learning expressed his hopes for the event. And the themes of this conference are designed to help us profile the much wider developmental impacts of learning. PCF-5 was officially opened by Sir Graham Davies, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London. He spoke about the university's role as the world's first open access university in both his keynote address and his interview. The forum is all over the Commonwealth and elsewhere, but from my point of view the most important relationship is the relationship through our external system. And there we continue to provide distance connections and distance education in, at the present moment, 180 countries, all of the countries of the Commonwealth. The forum's first keynote address was given by the Prime Minister of Uganda, Professor Apollo Ntibabi. The Prime Minister discussed the role of formal and informal education in achieving development goals and the importance of cost-effective solutions to educational access in his own country. The emphasis on affordable technology, affordable technology. The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, His Excellency Kamala Sharma, spoke about the enormous challenges facing the Commonwealth today. He described of the 150 million children who don't go to school, 70 million are in the Commonwealth, 30 million of them out of primary education and 40 million out of secondary education. In his interview he also discussed these challenges. The old very, very daunting statistics is very clear they cannot be done entirely by conventional ways. You need to think of avenues in which you can really get the results you want in a much more flexible, innovative, technological, savvy way. Mr. Nicholas Burnett, Assistant Director for Education with UNESCO, provided the final address of the forum's opinion session. He explained the link between education and development, and our education is a right which leads to many aspects of development. Environmental sustainability, social and economic development, better child and maternal health, and women's empowerment. Parallel sessions were held on each day of the forum, offering delegates a wide range of topics related to learning for development and speakers from around the globe. The 2008 Excellence in Distance Awards education, we announced a PCA-5, recognizing good practice by institutions, learning materials, and by educators and students. The Commonwealth of Learning also named eight new Honorary Fellows, we have made outstanding contributions to open and distance learning. The latest edition of Commonwealth Education Partnerships publication was also launched at PCA-5, means Carol Bellamy reminded delegates about the plight of out-of-school children in a plenary address. The solution, she argued, is greater innovation in delivery of education. The key to education for all lies in the tapestry of new and innovative partnerships that have come together over the last decade or so. This is involving all sectors and all levels of society, from governments and funding agencies, to service providers and civil society representatives, to educators of all stripes, and of course families and children themselves. You, everyone here, you are all part of that tapestry of innovation that we so desperately need, and we need to weave in order to get the job done. Day two of PCA-5 began with the Asa Briggs Lecture, which honors the founding chairman of the Commonwealth of Learning's Board of Governors and the renowned British historian, the right-honorable Lord Briggs of Luz. Professor Brenda Gurley, Vice Chancellor of the UK Opening University and chair of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, spoke about new technologies, new possibilities for reaching the unreachable in ways that would have been impossible not so long ago. And I'm also enormously encouraged by how enabled by technology we are learning to share our commonwealth. The most abiding uplift for me comes from my perception of more and more people involving themselves in activities with purpose beyond themselves. It seems to me that it's especially young people who are demonstrating their understanding of what James Martin calls the awesome meaning of the 21st century. Dr Astrid Duff-Borg with the Global East Schools and Communities Initiative provided a plenary address about the challenges and issues of information and communication technology for education. One of the key challenges is the lack of knowledge about the use of ICTs. We realise that we know very little about what is happening in the classrooms. There is a lot of need for research on following what is happening, what kind of changes, what happens to the students, what happens to the teachers and what happens in the systems. Day three of PCF-5 featured a keynote address by Professor Lydia Brito, a university professor and former minister of education in Mozambique. Professor Brito offered an African viewpoint in a keynote address. Access to learning for health with particular reference to HIV AIDS. She warned delegates that we are running out of time in the fight against HIV AIDS. In order to integrate education into the social and economical processes, what we will need is to make sure that we have research, serious research that enable us to develop curricula, methodologies that can help education. PCF-5 also included a technology showcase, an exhibition of technologies and products related to open and distance learning. The keynote address on the final day of PCF-5 was provided by Professor Bani Pityana, Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa. His topic was a decade of development and education in Africa, the promise of open and distance learning. Allowing broad access to quality education at an affordable price. In short, the growth of ODL has facilitated mass access to quality, higher education. Following summaries from the leaders of each of the four conference themes, the President of the Commonwealth of Learning, Sir John Daniel, reviewed the four day forum in his closing keynote address. The technology that attracted most attention through the conference was open educational resources, which we can think of as a kind of academic putty that allows you to create materials collaboratively and then shape them to our own institutional and individual needs. You saw applications for OERs in every area of learning, and it will be particularly interesting to pick up on this story at PCF-6. Sir John encouraged delegates to continue to collaborate after the forum to prepare for the next three year plan for the period 2009 to 2012. The forum gala was held at the Congress Center in Great Russell Street. Delegates wore national dress that reflected every part of the Commonwealth. The focus was on fun with lots of mingling and dancing to traditional Scottish Cain style music. With this successful forum in London, PCF-5 has taken its place as one of the world's leading international conferences on learning and global development. The next pan-communal forum on open learning takes place in India in November 2010.