Saide is a non-profit organization committed to the process of transformation of education and training so to increase equitable and meaningful access to knowledge, skills and learning through the adoption of open learning principles, distance education methods and educational technology.

Our Vision:A society in which all people value, have access to, and succeed in lifelong education that meets national and regional priorities in the context of the global knowledge economy.

Saide was initially entirely supported by the European Union. From 1995, Saide began to diversify its funding. In early 1997, Saide turned its attention to its financial sustainability around different sources of income: project grants with agreed deliverables, commissioned project income, general income from funding agencies (organizational grants), other (including interest, royalties, use of administrative services etc). The balance among these types has shifted dramatically, with no organizational grants since 2005. Saide is committed to balancing the above sources of income to ensure that it retains a strong committment to its mission and is not driven entirely by the 'market'.

Saide is not an implementing agency but acts as an advocate, catalyst, and facilitator to bring about change in existing educational practices. Saide is in a unique position to facilitate networks and provide advice on the planning and implementation of distance education and the evaluation, development and sharing of courses and materials. Educational providers in South Africa and neighbouring countries have increasingly sought Saide's assistance in planning and evaluating their programmes, courses and systems and supporting them by facilitating professional development for their staff.

Saide is a non-governmental organization conducting projects throughout South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Saide's task is to contribute to the development of new models of open learning, including the use of distance education methods, educational technology and open educational resources. These should accord with and take forward the values, principles, and goals of the evolving education systems in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Saide offers a number of services accross all educational sectors - higher education, teacher education, early childhood development, schooling, technical and vocational education and community education. We do not deliver education programmes, but work with educators, programmes and institutions as well as government to enable successful open learning for all.

Since inception, Saide has developed and sustained an excellent reputation for the quality and effectiveness of its work, and for its ability to manage a wide range of projects. The project pages provide information on our projects, related services and staff involved. Where possible we include links to resources and outputs related to these projects. The search facility  can also be used to look for our resources.