Ever since the start of the health crisis, PIROI has been exploring solutions to continue providing training, and has been experimenting with distance learning.

This online approach was undertaken in partnership with the Bioforce Institute for the “Creating and managing a humanitarian project” course financed by Europe’s INTERREG programme. Training took place from 11th February to 11th March 2021 for fourteen people from the PIROI network.

During the 35-hour course, taught in French, participants learned more about methodology as well as the use of resources to design, manage, and assess humanitarian projects.

The e-learning platform Biomoodle offered trainees the chance to carry out group work, assessing their level through progress tests, and structuring lessons through self-learning sequences. In order to provide a dynamic learning experience, Bioforce’s teaching was based on edutaining, interactive material. A combination of modules that were either self-paced on the distance-learning platform or instructor-led allowed participants to progress according to their own level of experience and pace, while still being able to share experiences with the group.

The exercises to be done each week were extremely beneficial, helping me assimilate what I learnt and put my new skills into practice.

Comment from a course trainee.

All the participants obtained a certificate of competence, and expressed their satisfaction with both the teaching method and relevant content of the online course. For the instructor, there was clear overall progression in what participants learned. This experiment in remote training will continue along the same lines with another e-learning course in Financial Management to be held in April 2021.

Bioforce