 Thank you, thank you very much Fabio and welcome, welcome everyone to the launch of our FL E-earning Academy guide on methodologies and good practices. I have to say that this guide really documents over the almost 20 years of experience where we're trying to this guide to share experience, to share our lessons learned, to share with you some tips about. But I just also wanted to mention that this event is an event organized with also with our sister agency UN, the United Nations UNS Cup with the Future Food Institute with Agrinium. So we are four organizations organizing this event. We are extremely pleased to have here with us the FL Deputy Director for partnerships and the outreach stream, Beth Bechtel, who is here to say a few words about the role and the importance of the FL E-earning Academy. So Beth, the floor is yours. Thank you for being with us. Sure. Thank you, Christina, and thanks to everybody for being a part of this. I'm really pleased to be able to be here with you and to open this event and welcome everyone to the official launch of FAO's guide on e-learning methodologies and good practices. As Christina mentioned, today we are joined by experts from the International Training Center of the International Labor Organization and also FAO's own regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean. I would like to just share a few thoughts with you on the role of the guide and on the contribution that I think it will bring to our ongoing transformation towards global digital inclusion and learning. First, I would say that this publication could not have come at a better time. COVID-19 related restrictions have provided an unexpected springboard for more virtual learning tools and solutions. There's been a big increase in demand for e-learning with a move towards content that works on a range of devices, including our smartphones. And the pandemic has also demonstrated the importance of having e-learning that is tailored to country-specific needs. And the guide provides clear methodologies and quality criteria to facilitate this. Certification of competencies gained is what the new generation of online learners are looking for as they build their own competencies from a broad array of online offerings. And so the FAO e-learning academy uniquely offers digital badges for several of our courses, providing a boost to an individual's career progression and a further incentive for learners to complete any given course. Secondly, I would share that the guide supports countries and institutions that need to adopt new methodologies to provide these kinds of quality learning experiences. Creating e-learning courses is easier than ever. And we are seeing many more rolling out in our member countries. Now it is important, though, to ensure that the quality and effectiveness of technology-based learning solutions is a priority. And this can only be achieved by analyzing learning needs and applying sound methodologies in the design of e-learning. Based on 15 years now of delivering e-learning solutions for FAO members, this guide provides instructional design principles, methods, guidelines, tips, examples, and case studies that are particularly relevant for organizations working in the development context. And finally, I would just like to reiterate the importance of adopting innovative and mobile responsive learning solutions. A lot has changed since the first version of this guide was published 10 years ago. This edition covers new topics such as micro-learning and mobile learning. These formats are particularly suitable for those with limited time for learning, but with a constant need to acquire new information and to apply new knowledge and new skills. Mobile learning now gives access to learning content with our handheld devices, our smartphones, and our tablets. It is estimated that 4 billion people use their phones to improve their own education or that of their children. This represents 140 million users more than in 2017 and clearly is a part of a growing trend in learning. Interest in any time and anywhere learning via mobile devices is also growing rapidly in developing countries. It's cost effective and it is available on more affordable devices and networks. And micro-learning is another learning trend which provides short form content to provide learners with just-in-time information that can be acquired in less than 10 minutes. Micro-learning's characteristics of brevity and design for just-in-time learning make it particularly suited to delivery on our mobile devices. So I strongly encourage you all to consult this guide and to learn about these new and exciting trends in digital learning. It gives me great pleasure to officially launch the guide today here with you, which is available in English and soon to be available in French and Spanish. I look forward now to the presentation of the guide and hearing the testimonials about just how important its contributions are. And on that note, I'd like to now give the floor to Ms. Marcella Villareal, Director of FAO's Partnerships and UN Collaboration Division. Thank you very much, Beth. Thank you. I would like to join in the very warm welcome to everybody to this official launch of the FAO eLearning Academy Guide on eLearning Methodologies and Good Practices. Let me start with a quote from Nelson Mandela, a person who I've always admired very much. And he says, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. And I couldn't agree more with that. Education, capacity development are the keys to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness and fostering peace and many more. And in a knowledge economy, education is a new currency by which nations maintain economic competitiveness and global prosperity. Education is an investment and one of the most critical investments we can ever make. This is true for countries around the world, not only south, north and south. And for us at FAO, capacity development is of course a core function. It is the essence of the work that we do at country level. This is what we leave behind when we are addressing very difficult development problems as we do in our day-to-day life. In order to achieve the SDDA agenda, 2030, we need competent professionals who are able and capable of taking appropriate decisions, formulating targeted and sustainable policies and strategies and adopting an innovative green methodologies, if you want to call them this way, and technologies. We cannot achieve sustainability without the development of capacities, knowledge, skills and competencies. And that is exactly the overall objective of our FAO eLearning Academy. In addition to cutting edge content, good practices and new methodologies developed by FAO in collaboration with very many partners worldwide, innovative pedagogical models, learning approaches and strategies are also needed for the development of competencies and transformation needed towards sustainability. The FAO eLearning Guide documents over 15 years of experience of FAO eLearning pedagogical models and learning solutions. As the director of the division that hosts the eLearning Academy and very proudly so, I am proud to mention that the first edition of the guide was among the 10 most visited publications of FAO in the recent years, and also benefits numerous institutions worldwide in their efforts towards the adoption of eLearning at corporate level. We're extremely pleased to launch this valuable publication today, and we look forward to the detailed presentation of the methodologies and learning solutions it offers. So it is now my pleasure to give the floor to Andrew Nadeau. Over to you, Andrew. Right. Thank you very much, Marcella. Appreciate that. Thank you, Beth, for launching the guide. While Beth provided some ideas of what to look for in the new guide, I'm here to provide a bit of historic perspective. That's what happens if you're the one with gray hair in the room. This guide follows in the footsteps of the original which was published in 2011. The idea of such a guide had been on the minds of the eLearning team for some time, as we often ask how we produce our courses. A lot of our members and a lot of our partner institutions ask how can we do this? How do we set up a similar system? How do we go about getting out to our learners and our constituents? However, time and resources were always a constraint. We weren't able to do so. But fortunately, in 2010, we had the good fortune of obtaining funding from Germany to work on a two-year blended learning program with three regional organizations. These were ASEAN, SILSAGRAMET, and KAMESA. And we worked with them to jointly deliver learning programs specific to food security professionals in their respective member states. The learning programs are based on part of an extensive suite of eLearning courses that we had produced with generous funding from the EU. Part of the program, we were actually supposed to support our regional partners in developing their own eLearning systems and platform. So suddenly, FUDDEN was available to produce a guide on how to develop eLearning courses FAO style. We quickly decided this was the opportunity to create a first edition of the guide and to deliver it as a global public good. We were fortunate enough to have EU funding available to produce the French, Spanish versions of the guide shortly afterwards. Now, finally, we have a full answer when we ask, how can we create our own courses? How can we point people to the guide? And so far, it's been proven a great success. Marcelo mentioned the numbers since 2011. The guide has been in and around the top 10 downloads of FAO. Top 10 last year, top 15 in 2009 and even in the top five of 2018. This is a good indicator of how popular and in-demand the guide is. And I think the latest version will boost these numbers immensely. Don't forget, those of you familiar with FAO, I was at this guide is in competition and publications such as the state of food security and nutrition in the world. One of our FAO flagship publications. So, well done, I say. Now's the time to take me to take time to recognize the primary author of the guide, Beatrice Guertini. Good friend as well. First met Beatrice when she was working from an external firm that we hired to get us started on eLearning. One of the examples she showed us was of course she developed on how to sell a certain model of fiat in Ireland. Now, I'm not one to comment on the need for such a course, having no knowledge of the appetite for fiat's why they are public. But one thing that struck me about how well the course was designed and how it can concisely explain how to get the task done. Of course, we did hire Beatrice to work with us as well as many other instructional designers and course were developed to make up today's team. And what you'll find in the multiple multitude of offerings through the FAO in an academy are very practical courses designed for working professionals and upcoming young professionals in the field of food and agriculture. These courses are designed to ensure the correct knowledge and skills are imparted to on the job professionals. That's the key behind all of this. Now, does it work? Well, over the years we've conducted learner surveys and we have results that show that 90% plus of our users acquired new knowledge and skills. And even more telling is that the same percentage of users are telling us that they applied these new required skills in the workplace on the job. Now, a lot of work and planning goes into creation of these courses. I think this is clear. Those of you are familiar with the guide realizes how complex an operation it might be. I am not going to go into details as Beatrice will be providing over the guide but I can say that the new version is fantastic in my very biased opinion. I would also like to congratulate Beatrice, the FAOE Learning Academy team and other contributors to the guide. I would also be remiss if I don't thank the Global Network Against Food Crisis Partnership Program, which is funded by the UN for which Beatrice is currently working. The program has allowed Beatrice the time and resources to produce the current guide. Again, congratulations all involved and I hand the floor to Christina. Thank you very much Andrew and before giving the floor to Beatrice who will be explaining a little bit the contents and the various methodologies of our guide. I just wanted for those of you who don't know us just very, very briefly to explain what is our intention behind the FAOE Learning Academy. As both Marcela and that were mentioning, they mentioned a lot of the world competences and this is exactly what we are trying to do. We are trying to transfer multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary competences which are the ones that are needed to face the global challenges we are all facing. So what we are trying to do is to basically offer free of charge, be learning courses, multilingual be learning courses to allow anyone anywhere in the world to have access to these resources. Really, we are supporting universal education. Education should no longer be a privilege of just a few. So it is really a global public good and it is really the result of a collaborative effort. We have worked with over 200 partners to make this a reality. We are fully aligned with the SDGs and I think that our model also fully is fully aligned also with SDG 17 on collaboration. So we have reached so far about 700,000 learners and we cover a number of various thematic areas, climate change, sustainable food systems, nutrition, but also responsible investments. What does it mean to be responsible? Sustainable fisheries, sustainable forestry. How do you restore soils? Also, how do you maintain your forestry genetic resources? So all of these thematic areas are covered and we invite you all to have a look. Just as I was mentioning, we work with a number of farmers. We also work with a number of universities. We create masters and post-graduate degrees where the universities integrate our courses. We share these courses with these various partners for their capacity development activities. We also work a lot with UN initiatives. We contribute to these initiatives and networks and we share everything over courses with them too. What I also wanted to mention is the importance of diversifying our pedagogical models, our delivery solutions and this is also going to be covered by the appreciate and it is covered in the guide. So just to tell you that we really try to diversify the models that we use also because each of us has a preferred way of learning and by diversifying, you certainly have a greater impact. So we organize blended learning programs, online technical webinars, also mobile responsive courses and learning programs, MOOCs, and they will be covering all these aspects. And we also put a lot of attention in innovation in the design, in the content and in the pedagogical models. I'm not going to go too much into this but we really try to be as collaborative as possible in all the different activities that we do and in the various phases of the processes. Because we really believe that adopting a multi stakeholder approach is surely a much richer process that allows to also obtain richer products. That generates richer products and it is also very important to work with the target audiences to make sure that everything is aligned with the professional profiles and with the competencies that these professional profiles comprise. So I'm not going to go too much into the details because all of this is covered in the guide that the issue will be mentioning. I just wanted to conclude by saying that it is also crucial, especially also with the pandemic to offer the possibility to certify competencies and to have an accreditation which becomes a driver for educational reform. So we use the digital batch certification system which is equitable, inclusive, transparent and so we have been using it since 2020. So this also will be covered with definition but I just wanted to mention that this is a way to certify specific competencies that people have acquired and you can personalize your pool of competencies by selecting them actually. So it's very, it's visible, transparent, shareable, stackable, verifiable and this is the system we are using. I just wanted to mention also that we have a number of publications and that also the, including the guide, and that all of these are available for free through the Ethnal eLearning Academy. And without further ado, I'd like to now give the floor to Beatrice Gerardini who is the main author of the guide. However, this is also the work of the collaborative effort of the entire eLearning team, which I'd like to acknowledge also. So we appreciate, the floor is yours, we really look forward to your presentation. Thank you very much. Thank you Christina. And hello everyone. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the guide. I'm very happy and pleased to be here. I'm just sharing my screen. Okay, can you see my screen? Yes. Okay. Okay, so as it was already mentioned, the main objective of this guide is to share good practices and methodologies with everybody because as Christina was saying, the guide is a public good. And it addresses both capacity development managers and also instructional designer learning designers who want to develop specific skills on creating eLearning content. And also, all those that are interested in knowing about how to set up an eLearning course, an eLearning program. The content is based on consolidated theories and models from instructional researchers and on the experience of the FAE Learning Academy that for more than 15 years has applied all these methodologies to the development context. And as it was already said, this is a second edition where more topics were added, some topics were expanded and all the examples and case studies were replaced by more recent experiences. The next slide is organized into four sections. The first one is the introduction providing basic concepts while the other three sections provide concrete guidance on the different phases of an eLearning project. Let's go briefly through these parts. So part one is about the present the benefits of eLearning, the different types of solutions that can be delivered, and also the resources that are needed. So what kind of activities and professional roles are involved in developing an eLearning program. And what solutions, there are different types of content that can be used for self-paced eLearning, but can also be associated to social interaction tools. For example, we can have the simple resources like videos or documents, but also more comprehensive eLearning courses, test simulations, debates, these are all types of eLearning content. And they can be used in online facilitated courses, webinars or massive open online courses to allow learners to interact with other participants with the instructors with facilitators. So adding the social components to the learning. And also there is in this first part an overview of blended learning, which is an approach combining face to face and online learning. And since 2011, the FAE Learning Academy has delivered a series of blended learning programs at both national and regional level. They have an enhanced capacity of professionals to implement core programs in their own countries. And all these programs follow, apply a common model that FAE is using as adopted, and which is described in the guide, and you will also find a case study. The different aspects of one of this program, including the impact that the program had on the country. And another highlight is on mobile learning, as was already mentioned before, it's a way of providing learning through mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It's also a way to join, for example, learners who are in remote areas and have limited connectivity, and also a way to provide just in time content for those who need to rapidly access information and content. So in the guide, there is in this first part, there is an example on mobile responsive resource for private investors on investing responsibly in agriculture, and which consists of small elements. In the introductory video, there is a self assessment tool and a series of short lessons that are quite suited for mobile learning. The second part is on the first stages of learning program and the analysis and design and these are crucial steps for any kind of learning project. Whether it is any learning or self-paced learning, a blended or a facilitated course. I just would like to highlight one method that we use, that is, we use to ensure that the learning is relevant for learners that they can use it in their job as well. So this is the task analysis, which is a way to identify the content of a course, looking at the job tasks that the learners should learn or improve. So starting from this perspective, we identify the content that should be included in the course. You will find an example on the series of learning courses on SDG indicators, for which we applied this analysis at the beginning to have at the end harmonized series of courses, which are organized in a similar way. And also the definition of delivery methods, instructional methods and evaluation methods, it's important and should take into account not only the content and not only also the technological issues and constraints, but also learners related factors like their familiarity with the technologies, their familiarity with digital communication, and also their previous knowledge and skills, also the time that they have available for learners and other elements. And these elements can drive then the choice of, for example, the delivery format, if it's a mobile learning course or a new learning course, and also the if we are using asynchronous communication methods. So having a different times, or if we are using synchronous methods like video conferences, for example. Then I was explaining related to evaluation, there is also the certification of competencies acquired through the courses. And this is very important because digital badges provide an opportunity for learners to share to show their accomplishments and for employers to have a granular view of the learner skills and knowledge and competencies. Digital badges, also called micro credentials or digital credentials are visual representations of the skills and competencies acquired by doing a specific learning activity. And they have these three main features, they are they are stackable, so that you can show a collection of the knowledge skills competencies coming from different sources coming from both formal and informal learning activities. They are shareable, so they can be displayed in professional social networking platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, they can also be embedded into web pages and in dignified signatures in emails. And they are also verifiable because they embed metadata that describe the series of elements like the issuing organization, the kind of activity that they correspond to, the criteria that have been used to assign that badge. Then the third part is really providing concrete guidance to create the learning content from the stage in which the designer worked with this subject matter expert to the creation of the storyboard, to the use of different instructional techniques that facilitate learning. So here the objective is to make learning clear and engaging for learners. So there are a number of techniques to use including the use of examples to clarify the content. The use of tests to reinforce the messages, the use of media and it's very important to use a right mix of media without overloading the working memory of learners and but to give them the attention to choose media that are functional to the learning process. And then a series of techniques that can be used according to the type of content like the use of pedagogical agents, which gives some human sense to the lessons, and other methods that are more related to the development of job related skills like storytelling is based scenarios. I will provide an example later, then the gamification which adds element that increase the motivation and engagement of learners and micro learning, which are short learning, learning resources that correspond to one learning objective, and that particularly appropriate for being delivered on mobile devices. There is also a chapter on the selection of authoring tools so providing some criteria when selecting an authoring tools for both e learning and mobile learning. These are two examples of a scenario based technique, which is very effective to teach a strategic skills and job related skills, because it presents a challenging situation where the learner is the main actor, and the learner has to solve a series of problems by making some choices. So it's really useful to teach skills that are strategic and that where the learner has to use different elements, together different elements to solve the situation. One on the left is an example of a course entirely designed around a scenario. And here the trigger event is the a bad evaluation received on on an agricultural program, so the learner has to somehow to redesign the program, and he will, they will collect information from different stakeholders and make some choices on the design. And, and the other example is a is a mobile responsive tool is an assessment, a final assessment of a course on responsible investment. And here the learner is presented with a case and can choose an avatar, so can decide if women or a woman. And, and then the information is presented through a series of videos. And the last part of the of the guide is about social interaction. So there is a description of how to prepare for an online facilitated course, which is a course where activities are organized. into chronological order and are facilitated by experts and are delivered to an online platform. And so there is a description of the different activities and components of these courses with examples taken from our experience. And also, an overview of the different communication tools and collaboration tools that can be used in my in a course. And some tips on how to use this tools for 11. And this is also completed by a case study of online training of trainers, which was supposed to be a blended learning program but then because of the COVID-19 restrictions was converted to a virtual course, using both live sessions and asynchronous and the other one is a massive open online course again, mixing different types of activities and involving more than 5,000 learners. And the last chapter of the of the guide is about is a let's say it's about technology. So it's about the different learning platforms that can be used to deliver a learning with a focus of course on open source solutions like moodle which is the platform that we are using at the Fire Learning Academy and other solutions for limited connectivity. So before closing, I would like to acknowledge all the colleagues who contributed to this guide. And so we'll start with the yes Mina Tizovic who authored the two chapters on technology. Chiara Nicodemi who provided the case studies of the blended learning program and the online training of trainers program. And Gouzen who authored the section on certification through digital badges. Then Sara Ferdante, Ilka Holt, Mariana Lapisani, Fabio Pichinich and Julia Ramadan, who provided examples and checklist on MOOCs and webinars. The entire Fire Learning Academy team for all my colleagues in the in the learning Academy team because all the examples are taken from from their work that they daily carry out. And all the reviewers who provided comments and suggestions on on the core on their guides. Claire for the editing and a special thank to Claudia, who made the graphical design that I think is very effective and very nice. That's all. Thank you for your attention. And here you find again the links to the to the PDF and also to the flip page version of the guide. And thank you so much. I hope you will enjoy reading the guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And actually, while you were presenting, I was looking at some of the questions. And so I would like to get some answers before giving the floor to our two, our two guests. So, some of the questions were related to. As I mentioned for us, it's extremely important to try to think of multidisciplinary competencies and this includes also soft skills and interpersonal competencies, which is also the capacity to negotiate the capacity to to communicate and listen to writing skills, writing reports, writing actionable recommendations. So these are also some of our courses also cover the soft skills. So this is to answer some of the questions. And then some of you were asking if we offer free learning courses. This is exactly what we do. We offer free multilingual learning courses available to anyone. And it's very easy to access them. It's e-learning.phile.org. So it's very easy. And some of you were asking about the technology. So in the guide, you have an entire chapter about the technology. However, if you're interested to know about what we are using, we are using the Moodle platform, which for us is very suitable for low connectivity areas and also for language purposes and because we are multilingual. And as an altering tool for the courses themselves, we use Storyline, so Articulate 360 Storyline. So we will be answering all your questions and documenting all your questions and responding and the documents will be available online on the FLU Learning Academy in the webinar section and also the recording of this launch. So I would like now to give the floor to Tom Wanbeke, who is the Chief of Learning and Innovation in our sister agency, the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization. We are extremely pleased to have Tom with us here because they have also been part of all of this. So I would like to give the floor to Tom. Tom, thank you for being with us. Thanks a lot, Christina and colleagues. It's a pleasure to be here with you in this kind of official introduction of the FAO e-learning guide, which I had already the opportunity to sneak in and to see what it was. And I was thinking, what can I say in these, let's say the 10 minutes that have been allocated to me and I titled my input as I've called it the ripple effect that only will become clear at the end of my presentation. But looking at when Andrew was presenting the historical perspective, actually I was looking also on my own block and that brought me back to 2011 and this was an article that we have published in 2011, Andrew, the time that we were still young. You know, and I still remember very vividly Andrew standing somewhere I don't remember at what conference with what it was with this manual. You cannot see it because of my green screen but it was equally beautiful at that time and quite pioneering in let's say the in the field, because these are let's say large institutions making a very accessible document for let's say non e-learning experts that was something that was not done yet yet there were plenty of e-learning animals but they were all member of the I would call it using all kind of technical language full of abbreviations and both Andrew and me we are member of the AAAA which is the American association against the abuse of acronyms so we wanted to have something very accessible in there and the work of the team has been great into that now it's actually interesting because we jump from 2011 to 2021 so it has been already a decade that's the second thing that is quite unusual you know partnerships sometimes hardly survive a biannium. Here we are already working let's say 10 years together as professional colleagues also as friends after working so long time together. And this was a decade of action. I would, I would like to congratulate the FAO that already 15 years ago you were preparing for this pandemic, because a lot of other UN institutions got into a massive panic by way of speaking. When the pandemic arrived and had to go into a very rush into words this kind of everything was digital transformation in the last year while a very few organizations already have put the building blocks. Let's say a decade or 15 years ago. For us there was no panic that was actually the age of acceleration and all the hesitance and resistance that there was around E learning has now become common good and I think relaunching what you have done now the E learning manual is also strategic because I think we need to look towards the next decade, which should be also a decade of even more intensive acceleration, because if I look to different areas for example the current UN reform the views that are now being stressed on how are we going to organize learning and training in a world that probably will disrupted by more disruptions than just the pandemic that we have had right now I think we have the building blocks here so I would like to give you three images of inspiration on how we could further partner up because as I said when my training where my director at the time 11 years ago he asked me exactly the same question can you not design a manual for E learning I'm not going to design it there already exists one manual so I'm going to use that manual because reinventing the wheel is also something that within the UN is a common you know threats and actually reusing what you have been using and adding our synergies and complementarities on that was actually the beauty of this partnerships is basically SDG 17 translated into concrete action and that's what we also should do more in the future so what are my three IDs that I wanted to share with you. One of the things that impresses me, because I remember 10 years ago when I looked at the first self guided online courses that are out there that were already quite a bunch when I look 10 years later there's actually tons of them. And one number struck to me that was like you said we've reached out to 700,000 learners asked, you know, any other agencies in terms of numbers. Not many agencies or capacity building partners have reached scalability. Everyone is re is preaching scalability in terms of outreach and e learning, but doing it also effectively requires also a solid structure and a solid organization. I'm also quite impressed how specifically 10 years ago throughout with a minimum of resources you had like a kind of a maximum impact and this is also something that I would like to congratulate you for. So what am I'm asking with this. This has nothing to do with the recent putting my phone off. This has nothing to do with the recent launch of Richard Branson somewhere on the moon. But I think at this stage, it would be interesting to formulate some additional moonshots what you would like to do in the next 10 years and where you would you like to go and there's plenty of ideas that actually pop into my head where we could engage in interagency in relation on these kind of fields. Specifically, I remembered in the beginning Christina and also and he said it's really suited for FAO context you know really this is the thematic this is the mandate but if you look at the SDGs they're so interconnected related that only between ILO and FAO I can spot many let's say possible synergies specifically in the field of e learning but also in other areas which we have collaborated where we also use the e learning manual whether that was now on child labor or other topics I mean there's a lot of cross section points that we should elaborate further so I'm asking how can we do that moonshot thinking I was looking at the recent report from the UN joint inspection unit where they were basically looking into policies and platforms and support towards coherence coordination and convergence a note that was actually shared with the Secretary General. I wanted to see more of you know these kind of standards for me the e learning manual that you have developed should be a standard UN manual just to this is something that is cross sectionally can be used and to avoid the reinvention of the real it could be multiplied much more. What else would I like to mention there while there's a relevance and the question is here how can we create more multipliers we have been using the guide into plenty of training of trainers. We have seen also that throughout the new modalities that you have experimented with in the last 10 years. We had some unique scaling options I'm thinking about the massive online open courses which reach wide audiences. I'm thinking about the hackathons that you have been doing the boot camps and so on so that's definitely an area of doing more. The second element and this is also the beauty when I compare the first manual and now the revised manual there's a kind of strong connection between them. Most of the e learning manuals are always going to talk about the new technologies and what happens when you talk about e learning technologies you launch it and one year after it's already you know overdue because the new technology has it replaced. Your strategy has always been very much focused on on three things on design design and design that's probably why it's also called e learning methodology so that even your first manual is still relevant today and the manual that you have basically introduced right now will be relevant also a decade from now when we get together in a new webinar where maybe some of us will be retired already but at least this will be extremely relevant in 2031 when we actually make to the assessment of you know what happens with the SDG so that's definitely what the second element where can we invest in more innovations what I liked about the manual it was not only on self guided e learning and tutor based e learning you went really broad you know already the deputy director general mentioned the new trends in terms of micro learning in terms of hybrid learning and so on. I think there, we could do also more together because e learning is not anymore captured in the isolated cell of a few e learning specialist is going to become a cross section mandate of everyone who's involved into capacity building just to mention the manual we have now put learning innovation as a cross cutting strategic driver in our strategic framework of our training center that also results in having more access to resources that also results that now 20 regular budget based positions are working specifically on this topic which also would like to mention. Maybe the next thing and also would like to thank if you please Tina and the team for participating last week in our digital inclusion summit. And also here the manual is very incorporating you know not only digital inclusion in terms of you know accessibility and connectivity and making sure that you don't leave anyone behind but also opening up space how can be be more creative to marry innovation with inclusion and also there many more things can be done by on accessibility by on connectivity but also making open educational resources, giving access to mobile services and so on. And then the last point because I need to take the time into account and that's where I here come to my ripple effect. I think three things that are definitely work that we need to do jointly in this field to make it even more stronger. Years ago, all the question was yeah e learning is less qualitative than face to face learning that was the biggest cliche and mid that was out there. Now after 10 years we have enough data, I mean I remember throughout the project that I organized together with you. We had substantial data that a few actually of these learning projects were even more impactful than the traditional workshop factory that we usually do throughout the world. So when I think there, we need to invest in how can we capture that and there's a full field of learning analytics which is now widening it up. And maybe you also need to, you know, raise awareness that how we measure the impact of e learning is not using the same tools as we do in terms of face to face learning and that's probably the moment where we really can do it we just issue the study around it we can share it with you also later but this is going to show that's really worthy the ripple effect and the acceleration effect of e learning will take place. Also, not only on impact but on quality assurance I mean we were both partner of the, the you, the opening, open ECB check initiative, which made sure that our work was done at a high quality level over 67 different criteria, even more criteria that you would find in any face to this workshop out there and this is something that probably we would need to validate again but maybe adapted quality assurance frameworks also on the new realities that you are presenting in the manual. We are currently engaging in an ISO certification on there but there are many other ways to do it. And I see the initiatives that you're taking in terms of micro credentials and other elements all very much moving into that kind of direction. So these were let's say the three images that I wanted to, to share with you with lots of gratitude towards our partnership hoping that we can amplify multiply and that in order to generate more ripple effects, not only within FAO or within ILO but also in the larger community of stakeholders that we are serving and that's my contribution to the introduction of your manual. Thanks a lot to the entire team it has been a pleasure to work together with you and hopefully we can continue that for the next decade. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tom. We are also extremely grateful and it would be a pleasure as usual to work with you. Just before giving the floor to our colleague from the regional office in Chile, I just wanted to respond to another question which were related to the digital graph certification. And it was just to say that digital badges are well being used worldwide really I mean it is being used as a very successful method to try to match the competencies of individuals to the employment opportunities. So it allows to better match the competencies that you're able to acquire with the professional profiles and with the job opportunities that are out there. It has been extremely successful because if in addition to a university certificate or to a university degree you are also able to demonstrate that you have acquired specific competencies in the field and that you don't only know but you know how to do it, it has been very successful for increasing employment opportunities and also for talents development in organizations. We have noticed specifically related to the SDGs, you know that FAO is custodian of a number of SDG indicators where we help countries to collect, analyze, monitor and report on specific indicators. So this is the objective of the courses and then you have a test and if you pass the test you have the competencies in that specific indicator. We have also noticed that this is extremely successful also in many countries so because when countries need somebody to collect, analyze specific indicators and you have that specific competence, the competence that they are looking for. So it is really a way to better match and it is also a fair and transparent evidence based accreditation system so we are quite happy with that. So I would like to now give this door to Karina Crespo who is our colleague in the regional office of FAO in Chile, in Santiago, Chile and I have to acknowledge really the collaboration with our colleagues in the Nucleo de Capacitación because they have really been working extremely successfully with us in the language adaptations to Spanish in the outreach in the same, yes, so they have been supporting the entire capacity development effort together with us. So without further ado, so I would like to now give the floor to Karina Crespo. Karina, the floor is yours. Karina will be speaking in Spanish but you have the simultaneous translation. Thank you very much. Allow me to share the screen, let's see, there it is. Bueno, en principio comentarles que nosotros estamos muy agradecidos de esta invitación para nosotros es bien importante participar de esta actividad justamente por la relevancia que tiene la colaboración entre las distintas secciones de la organización y con otras organizaciones. Contarles un poquito quiénes somos, no somos un equipo que trabaja de manera transversal en el diseño y la implementación de estrategias de capacitación en nuestra región para América Latina de Caribe y desarrollamos propuestas que dan respuesta a las necesidades de los proyectos y los programas de nuestra región. Con orgullo queremos contarles que tenemos hemos llegado a casi 140,000 técnicos y profesionales de nuestra región y eso muestra también un proceso que hemos ido haciendo de crecimiento a través de los años. ¿Cuáles son nuestras funciones? Bueno, como han estado comentando los colegas, a partir de la pandemia han surgido, digamos, nuevas actividades, nuevas necesidades y también han crecido la función en responsabilidades y servicios que nosotros ofrecemos. Pero principalmente nuestra actividad tiene que ver con la capacitación técnica ya sea a equipos internos de la FAO como externos en todo lo que tiene que ver con capacitación de temática FAO. Pero además, estamos trabajando desde el año pasado identificando cuáles son las necesidades para la región y hemos llegado a la conclusión de qué es necesario diseñar e implementar una estrategia y política de desarrollo de capacidades para la región. Porque hay necesidades específicas y porque también es necesario aunar criterios, definir estándares de calidad, tener un mismo horizonte sobre qué queremos en el desarrollo de capacidades para la región. Y a partir del año pasado han surgido otras funciones que tienen que ver con la articulación, con diferentes organizaciones o con distintos espacios dentro de la misma organización y distintos equipos como equipos de Roma, como el equipo que coordina Cristina, como equipos también de África y de Asia. Y eso hace que se enriquezca mucho el intercambio del aprendizaje y por supuesto los resultados de las producciones son mucho mejores. ¿Cuáles son nuestros servicios? Nosotros tenemos, bueno, a partir de la pandemia también han crecido, digamos, las propuestas de estrategias de capacitación, pero fundamentalmente tenemos series de webinars con distintos ejes temáticos, cursos de auto aprendizaje que son masivos, gratuitos y abiertos. Nuestros productos son mayormente en español, pero también tenemos algunos cursos en inglés sin portugués, talleres y seminarios virtuales, cursos virtuales con tutor, con un acompañamiento más uno a uno con actividades grupales, individuales y con prácticas en terreno también. Diplomados que han resultado muy interesantes porque han permitido, en algunos casos, con la semipresencialidad, hacer intervenciones específicas en instituciones, por ejemplo, instituciones educativas con prácticas, con pasantías y con experiencias muy exitosas. Y últimamente estamos trabajando en la propuesta de desarrollar programas y trayectos de capacitación que sean más sostenidos en el tiempo y que permitan un nivel más profundo de aprendizaje. Con quienes trabajamos? Nosotros trabajamos mayoritariamente con los proyectos y los programas de la FAO, tanto a nivel de nuestra región como con los países, con secretarias y ministerios de los países de la región, con distintos equipos de learning de oficinas nacionales o internacionales con universidades, con centros de investigación y con fundaciones y ONG. Es bien interesante lo que está pasando con las universidades porque muchos de nuestros participantes son estudiantes de las universidades cuyos docentes recomiendan nuestros cursos, entonces también es interesante ver la llegada que estamos teniendo en ese sector. Proponemos mostrarles este gráfico como para tener una mirada de contexto de cómo ha ido creciendo la demanda de capacitación en nuestra región y vemos que desde el 2013 al 2019 fue en un crecimiento paulatino, pero vemos que en el 2019 al 2020 la demanda aumentó muchísimo. Entonces eso significó que nosotros tuvimos como que repensar las estrategias, adaptarnos a las nuevas necesidades todo en una vertiginosa velocidad, pero es una oportunidad excelente para identificar las necesidades y dar respuestas. Como para dar un ejemplo, nosotros en años anteriores teníamos una estadística, un promedio de producción de cursos de 20 a 25 cursos por año. Sin embargo el año pasado hemos llegado a 66 productos de capacitación en el año y este año incluso eso se está multiplicando, entonces hay toda una reestructuración del equipo y de lo que vamos a ofreciendo. Nosotros estamos centrados fundamentalmente en este momento en el diseño de nuestra estrategia de desarrollo de capacidades para unificar criterios en toda la región y para llegar a espacios más profundos de aprendizaje. Y para esto identificamos dos niveles de acción. Por un lado el desarrollo de capacidades técnicas a los equipos técnicos con los que trabaja la FAO pueden ser equipos técnicos internos o externos de los gobiernos y detectamos que había mucha oferta de sensibilización. Sin embargo no había tanta oferta de un aprendizaje más profundo que nos llevara al cambio de prácticas. Entonces este tránsito de la sensibilización al cambio de prácticas no se resuelve con un solo curso sino que hay que combinar una serie de estrategias para lograr ese aprendizaje profundo. Y en esa área, en esa propuesta estamos trabajando más profundamente desde el año pasado. Pero además vimos que no alcanza con capacitar a los técnicos sino que también hay que hacer todo un trabajo a nivel de sensibilización política para que los políticos también tomen esas decisiones y se refuerce la idea de las políticas públicas vinculadas a las temáticas que va proponiendo FAO. Entonces queríamos compartir un ejemplo de lo que estamos haciendo de manera muy general. Nuestra región se organiza en tres grandes ejes temáticos a los cuales le llamamos iniciativa regional 1, 2 y 3. Y bajo esta iniciativa regional se desarrollan todos los proyectos de la región. Entonces además los proyectos se unen o tienen en común algunos temas. Entonces, estos grandes ejes temáticos se subdividen en grupos de temas y hay varios proyectos que trabajan sobre eso. ¿Qué vimos? Vimos que los proyectos tenían estrategias de capacitación en su planificación, tenían recursos y demás, pero cada uno hacía su propio curso. Entonces como los proyectos son cortos o a veces tienen pocos recursos, siempre quedábamos en la instancia de sensibilización. ¿Qué es lo que se hablaba antes? No es necesario estar todo el tiempo reinventando la rueda, sino que queremos propiciar un espacio de conversación entre esos proyectos porque esos proyectos no conversaban. Entonces lo que hicimos fue juntar un grupo de proyectos que tuvieron la temática en común, que quisieran hacer capacitaciones y proponerles que con los recursos y con los objetivos que ellos se proponían en vez de hacer cinco cursos de sensibilización hicieramos un trayecto de capacitación que pueda ser más sostenido en el tiempo y que tenga diferentes estrategias pedagógicas para el desarrollo de capacidades a nivel más profundo. Entonces creamos este espacio de programas y trayectos de capacitación que se diseñan de manera colaborativa entre los proyectos y de esa manera ofrecemos un producto más profundo, más sostenido en el tiempo y que da respuesta a todos los proyectos que participan en los diferentes países. Entonces con eso, logramos ese trayecto que habíamos propuesto y queremos también empezar a trabajar en evaluaciones de impacto porque todavía estamos un poquito flojitos con eso. ¿Cuáles son los logros que tuvimos en el 2020 que ha sido un año de muchísimo crecimiento y aprendizaje? El aprendizaje, por supuesto, ha crecido mucho la demanda hacia nuestro equipo para el asesoramiento de programas y proyectos que tuvieran que transformar sus metodologías de enseñanza presencial a modalidades virtuales. Para esto es fundamental la utilización de la guía y todos los recursos y los instrumentos que tiene la Academia de Aprendizaje Electrónico de la FAO que constantemente está compartiendo con nosotros porque lo tomamos como un punto de referencia como es como nuestro punto de partida y de ahí nosotros adaptamos a la región. Enriquecimos mucho el modelo pedagógico, también hemos trabajado, empezamos a trabajar con micro-learning con aprendizaje interactivo, con materiales interactivos y toda la nueva, digamos, metodología pedagógica que requieren las nuevas épocas. Mejoramos la infraestructura tecnológica porque hemos migrado de plataforma, también eso algo que le debemos a Cristina porque ella nos acompañó en ese proceso. Crescimos en visibilidad interna y externa por la cantidad de demanda y el ofrecimiento del asesoramiento que hacemos. Mejoramos la gestión y la sistematización de nuestros procesos porque el trabajar de manera virtual, 100% virtual eso nos impulsó a gestionar mejor todo nuestro ciclo de producción, la organización de nuestra información o sistematizarlo y demás. Y también nacieron nuevas líneas de trabajo, articulaciones y productos. En cuanto a qué nos proponemos, qué nos queda por hacer, cuáles son nuestros desafíos, estamos muy centrados en el diseño y la implementación de esta política y les comentaba que sea regional y que tengamos una mirada común en cuanto a desarrollo de capacidades. En este caso también es fundamental el apoyo y la articulación con la academia de aprendizaje electrónico de la FAO, esta guía y todos los otros recursos que siempre nos ofrece Cristina. El diseño y la implementación de programas de capacitación y sobre todo comenzar a pensar en evaluaciones de impacto tenemos muy bien medido la cantidad de personas que se han inscripto, que han aprobado, que han certificado pero no tenemos mucha evaluación de qué aprenden a hacer y si lo aplican en terreno se han cambiado las prácticas profesionales. Sistematización de materiales educativos, hemos detectado que hay muchos cursos, muchos materiales, muchos módulos, sin embargo no están sistematizados y tampoco están difundidos, entonces creo que ahí el trabajo colaborativo va a ser súper importante, hay que organizar toda esa información y compartirla. Y también algo que nos parece muy valioso y muy importante en este tiempo es maximizar la utilización de los esfuerzos y los recursos, esto que les decía, que cada proyecto piensa en su propia producción y no conversa con los otros, sin embargo si abrimos ese espacio de colaboración todos podemos concentrar la utilización de los recursos y estamos haciendo mucho más efectivo el trabajo, mucho más efectiva la utilización de recursos económicos y recursos humanos y eso se ve reflejado en una mejoría para la cooperación Sursul. Así que bueno, eso en una línea así como breve y muchísimas gracias, la verdad que es un placer estar compartiendo este espacio con ustedes y creo que no va a ser el primero que van a venir más, así que muchísimas gracias. Muchísimas gracias Karina, thank you all very much of our guide, it was a pleasure to be with all of you, I would like to thank again our deputy director, the director of our division, also Andrew Nado, Fabio Picic for the organizations, our guests, Tom Wanbeke and Karina Crespo, and behind the scenes also the translators that have been with us and the technical staff and I would like to thank you all the participants for being with us. Thank you so much and come visit, we are fairly learning academy, thank you. Bye bye.