Among the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century is that of providing adequate educational opportunities to all citizens of the globe. The broad availability of such opportunities and the genuine ability to take advantage of them are fundamental components of any equitable society. In examining how widening access to education contributes to social justice, this anthology composes a tribute to the life and work of the Nigerian educationist Michael A. Omolewa. The twenty-seven contributions to this volume discuss foundational issues related to the educational dimensions of social justice, present overviews of approaches related to widening access, and analyze case studies from around the world, as well as consider future directions in education policy and research. This thematic depth is matched by the geographic representativeness of the work, with contributors coming from the global South and North.

This book examines the role of NGOs in development projects on the African continent. It explores the challenges and the contradictions in the relationship between the NGOs, the supporting agencies, and the African people. It is intended to provide guidance for civil society organizations and their client groups who struggle to find viable means to collaborate with NGOs, the private sector, and public sector. This books argues that increased knowledge and cooperation is essential to the achievement of sustainable development. Therefore, community based organizations and public servants must consider whether they possess the necessary resources as well as the economic opportunities before they embark on any activity. Sustainable development activities might not be useful or reasonable for every rural community in Africa. One thing is very clear; the forces of globalization or sustainable development do not respect cultural boundaries. This book clearly states that for African nations to succeed they must find alternatives to centralized powers of national government. In addition, this book examines the transformation of several sub-Saharan African nations in the twenty-first century. African nations must reevaluate their concept of leadership, which rests on the notion that good leaders are born, not made. Therefore, there should be a greater emphasis on the development of political and managerial skills through formal education and industrial training. NGOs and civil societies could play a vital role in this transformation and, therefore, the future of Africa.

In this insightful book, the distinguished South African academic Akpovire Oduaran examines the challenges presented by the changing landscape of socio-economic transformations and strategic learning in the twenty-first century, especially in the context of Anglophone Africa. UNESCO has indicated that as at September, 2009, the world is still home to 776 million adults - one in every - who could not read, write, or compute to an appreciable level of understanding. The majority of these people, mostly adults, live in the so-called developing world. Added to the teeming millions of illiterate youths, this is a major crisis. The scenario presents even greater concerns for scholars in Africa; years after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) program were put in place as the major foci of development in Africa, the continent is still grappling with many difficult problems. Nearly three-quarters of the world's poorest people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. The number of people living on less than one US dollar was 389 million in 2013. Africa's share of world poverty is said to have risen from 19% in 1990 to 31% by 2004, and was still rising. The health challenges presented by HIV and AIDS present another huge need for African leaders to sit up and confront the limiting factors that have confronted their people for so long. These challenges obviously require everyone to learn to live and live to learn on a continuous basis. The book further considers the effects of the revolution in Information and Communication Technologies (hereinafter, ICTs), illiteracy, unemployment, climate change, poverty and HIV and AIDS on the learning process. But this book is not about how to deal with all of those challenges. Rather, it presents relevant information that might be of great value to those committed to the creation of ""learning societies"" in light of the context of the rapid development in ICTs, globalization, and their requirements of efficiency and effectiveness in every facet of socio-economic development. Because relationships among learning, socio-economic performance and development grow over one's lifetime, the author has used data that includes observations of individual and group learning situations. These observations are based on his interaction and engagement with learning events in Botswana, Nigeria, and South Africa, where he spent over 35 years preparing different categories of lifelong learning practitioners and educators for service.