As digital learning expands across Africa, questions of access and infrastructure often dominate the conversation. Yet another issue runs just as deep: whose language, whose assumptions and whose cultural references shape the learning experience itself?
At eLearning Africa 2026, Irene Elorm Hatsu Fiebor, Senior eLearning and Digital Learning Officer at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, will lead a workshop exploring how African digital education can better reflect the realities of the communities it serves. Her session, Learning in Our Own Voice, focuses on embedding language, cultural identity and lived experience into course design.
Drawing on more than a decade of experience developing and localising digital training for peace and security institutions across the continent, Irene has designed and adapted numerous online courses and supported thousands of learners. Her work centres on ensuring that digital education is not simply translated, but contextually grounded and culturally aligned.
The workshop will take a discussion-led approach, inviting participants to reflect on their own institutional contexts. Rather than concentrating on technical tools, the session will examine how digital platforms can support multilingual learning, honour local narratives and strengthen identity within formal education and training systems.
Participants will be encouraged to review their existing materials, consider where external frameworks may disconnect from learners’ realities, and explore practical steps for building culturally responsive digital programmes. The emphasis is on making digital learning not only accessible, but genuinely reflective of the communities it is intended to serve.
As digital education grows across the continent, the challenge is no longer whether learning can be delivered, but whether it truly resonates. By centring language and cultural identity, this session asks a timely question: what would African digital education look like if it were designed first and foremost for African realities? Sign up to the conference here to register for this workshop.
by Warren Janisch
