 Greetings to the organizers and all participants of the Third Lifelong Learning International Conference 2014. It's a pleasure to join you virtually from Vancouver, and I'm thankful to Dr. Hisham Zakiria for the invitation. The Commonwealth of Learning, or CALL, as you know, is an intergovernmental organization that helps Commonwealth member states and institutions to harness the potential of distance education and information and communication technologies for expanding access to education and training. Our motto is Learning for Development, and we work in the formal, non-formal and informal sectors, and Malaysia is a very important member of the Commonwealth, and we are very grateful to you for your financial and intellectual contributions to CALL. So thank you, Malaysia. The theme of the conference, Lifelong Learning Initiatives, New Frontiers and Sustainability, is as appropriate today as it was in the 1970s. The focus then was on lifelong education, and in 1996, the Jacques Delors report of UNESCO made the transition from lifelong education to lifelong learning. According to priests, and I quote, education indicates a more provider-led model of learning activity whilst learning suggests the focus is on the learner's needs. Similarly, education implies formal systems of provision whilst learning suggests a wider notion of non-formal and informal systems. Clearly, we can see the shift to learner-centric approaches and the view that learning can take place in a variety of settings and contexts. The European Commission defines lifelong learning as, and I quote, all learning activity undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence within a personal, civic, social and employment-related perspective. Today, the global community led by UNESCO prepares to adopt a new agenda for action beyond 2015 when the current Millennium Development Goals or MDGs will expire. The new agenda is to provide equitable and quality lifelong learning for all by 2030. There is a clear emphasis on quality, on lifelong learning opportunities for all, but there is also recognition that these opportunities must be more equitable and inclusive. In short, lifelong learning must be more democratic. My topic today is democratizing lifelong learning for all, challenges and solutions. I will take up three challenges and propose the solutions based on some of the work that we at CalDO. In the last few decades, we have seen several initiatives around the world for opening up access to quality education for large numbers of people. We saw the rise of open universities, dual mode provision, online learning and now the massive open online courses or MOOCs. Higher education opened up its ivory towers and let the masses in. And it is true that massification opened up access to newer constituencies. But has it democratized education? Democratization implies not just the multiplication of numbers, it also involves equalization of opportunities, opening up access, freedom of choice and a fair chance of success. So let's come to the first point. We know that democracy means off, by and for the people. This means involving the stakeholders in determining the kinds of actions required. Cal develops programs by involving its diverse stakeholders in different contexts. For example, illiterate women in India have learned about goat rearing from experts using their basic mobile phones. They decided that goat rearing was what they wished to learn about and joined Cal's lifelong learning for farmers program. This resulted in improved income for the women and their families. Similarly, a young woman in Kenya learned construction skills through a blended program supported by Cal and is now able to contribute to her family income and to support her own further training. These examples demonstrate that if we wish to democratize lifelong learning, it is important to one, consult stakeholders and encourage their participation. And two, deliver programs which address their needs. The second aspect of democratizing education is to provide access to lifelong learning for all. Open and distance learning plus ICTs have the potential to open up access. But ICTs can also widen the disparities between those who have access and those who do not. If we look at the growth of technology in the last decade, we find that the most radical growth has been in mobile telephony and mobile devices. If we mean to democratize learning, we need to take into account the technologies that are accessible, affordable and available and to modify our pedagogic approaches to suit particular constituencies and contexts. I mentioned MOOCs. Now MOOCs are often seen by many developing countries as a possible means of democratizing education, even here in Malaysia. But so far, have MOOCs reached the unreached? According to Sri Nivasan, at the moment MOOCs aren't reaching the unreached in Africa, but those on Wall Street through a course on financial engineering and risk management. Other research suggests that so far MOOCs have only reached those who already have degrees. A recent study conducted by the University of Michigan shows that MOOCs can reach the unreached if the disadvantaged learners are specifically targeted. Now to quote from our own example, Kohl offered a MOOC for development which could be accessed easily through mobile devices. Kohl modified the present MOOC model and gave materials on CD-ROMs to learners who had limited connectivity, for example in Sierra Leone and in remote regions in Africa, so that they could use that time on the internet for tutor and peer interactions. Careful implementation of the MOOC model can help us to democratize education and training. The third aspect of democratizing education is to provide not just access, but also access to success. Kohl works with institutions to develop systems to offer quality education and training. Kohl has developed a review and improvement model, or KohlRim, which helps institutions to assess the respective practices as a step towards external accreditation or as an ongoing process of continuous self-improvement. It is a low-cost do-it-yourself model which does not require a panel of external experts, but engages internal staff. It involves developing an institutional culture of quality rather than imposing top-down models of quality assurance. The involvement of all stakeholders is critical for creating this culture. There are higher education institutions engaging stakeholders to determine what would be quality education and skills required for the 21st century. A 2011 study in the US found that half the employers surveyed said they had trouble finding suitable graduates to hire. A McKinsey report points out that employers, education providers and youth live in parallel universes and very often these worlds do not meet. There seems to be a disconnect between what we teach in our schools and universities and what is required by the job market. There needs to be a consultative and collaborative process which brings together all key players to design needs-based and relevant programs. So in conclusion, let me say that if we wish to truly democratize lifelong learning, we need to make it relevant to the needs of stakeholders and involve the stakeholders, harness appropriate technologies and improve the quality of our teaching and learning to ensure that learners have the skills required to succeed in the 21st century. And with that, let me wish the conference every possible success. Thank you for your attention.