Established in 1992, Saide anticipated how distance education methods could assist in meeting the mammoth educational challenges facing post-Apartheid South Africa: in redressing the inequalities of the past; in vastly increasing access and quality; and in developing a future education system where education is no longer seen as a once off preparation for life but rather as a lifelong process to meet ever-changing demands.

Saide’s mission is to increase equitable and meaningful access to knowledge, skills and learning across the African continent, through the adoption of open learning principles and distance education strategies. Saide’s recently launched OER Africa initiativebrings together all of its OER-related activities under a common conceptual framework.

With seed funding from the Hewlett Foundation and a wide variety of projects and partnerships running across Africa, Saide is – through its OER Africa initiative – providing a unique opportunity to deploy African expertise to harness the concept of OER to the benefit of education systems on the continent and around the world.

	The OER Value Proposition
	Requirements for Successful Implementation
	Our Operational Approach
	Working with OER Africa

Our vision is that of a vibrant and sustainable African education systems and institutions that play a critical role in building and sustaining African societies and economies through free and open development and sharing of common intellectual capital.

OER Africa’s mission is to establish dynamic networks of African OER practitioners by connecting like-minded educators – teachers, academics, and trainers –to develop, share, and adapt OER to meet the education needs of African societies. By creating and sustaining human networks of collaboration – face-to-face and online – OER Africa will enable African educators and students to harness the power of OER, develop their capacity, and become integrated into the emerging global OER networks as active participants rather than passive consumers.