Preparing Skilled and Committed Youth Workers for Development Work through Open Distance Learning

Abstract

PCF2 // The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) is one of the partner institutions which collaborate in the delivery of the Diploma in Youth in Development Work under the initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Commonwealth Youth Programme(CYP). The Programme has been developed to prepare skilled and committed youth workers who will be in the forefront of development work in their respective countries. The development of the Programme itself was a team effort by academics drawn from a cross-cultural background, who used data, research material and case studies from representative Commonwealth countries. // While the Programme had specified objectives and recommended procedures for delivery, the diversity of cultures in which it was conducted understandably has led to variations in the implementation of the Programme. This paper discusses the challenges posed by implementing the Programme as it was stipulated by the Programme developers, the strategies used by the University to cope with these challenges and the level of effectiveness of these strategies.//