| Venue:- Le Meridien Kochi, India |
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| Official Conference Manager |
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Theme Leader
| Theme:- Formal Education |
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 Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah
Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah joined COL on 1 September 2006 as Education Specialist, Higher Education and Policy Development.
Dr. Clarke-Okah has been associated with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for over 25 years and comes with an extensive background in international development and education that spans 32 years in functions dealing with policy and programming that involves developed and developing country institutions of higher learning for some 14 years, technical analysis and advisory services in education, education policy analysis related to education reform vis-à-vis international economic competitiveness, and field representation.
Prior to joining COL, he was Counsellor and Head of Development Cooperation at the Canadian High Commission in Jamaica.
His most recent assignments include the development of a country basic education strategy for CIDA in Tanzania and the development of a strategic orientation for the Agency to facilitate the launching of a new bilateral programme in Nigeria. He was adviser to CIDA in its support of the African Virtual University project led by the World Bank and other open and distance learning projects in India and the South Pacific. He was CIDA's lead specialist in its Girl Child Education Initiative and represented CIDA at various international education fora, including various working groups of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa. Willie has travelled extensively in Africa, South-East Asia and The South Pacific.
A citizen of Nigeria and Canada, Willie has the distinction of being CUSO's first host national field staff and served as Deputy Coordinator for Nigeria in the early 1970's, following the end of "the Biafran War," before coming to Canada in 1975.
Willie holds a first-class honours interdepartmental studies degree in business and politics and a Master's degree in politics from Brock University, specialising in the newsmedia and international relations. He also holds a PhD in Educational Studies (Administration) from McGill University.
His extra-curricular activities include supervising graduate students in Communication and Development Studies in the Caribbean as well as acting as an external evaluator of doctoral theses in education for an Asian university. He is a member of the Board of Directors of MOSAIC, a large NGO in Vancouver with close to 200 employees and a budget of $19.5 million. He also sits on the Board's Accreditation Committee.
The Commonwealth of Learning is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training.
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