The conference was hosted at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania from 9 to 11 June 2021 with the theme “Revitalising Adult Education for Sustainable Development”. The idea originated with the first President of United Republic of Tanzania Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, who named the year 1970 as Adult Education Year in Tanzania. The conference offered the possibility for governmental officials, researchers, practitioners and international organisations from within and outside of Tanzania to reflect on the strong history of Tanzania in adult learning and education (ALE) and to discuss and share new approaches, challenges, and to put this into an international perspective.

“Adult Learning and education is a cross-cutting issue, it needs collaboration from different actors, governmental and non-governmental, to redefine the scope and target group for adult education programmes in Tanzania”, said the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa (MP), at the international conference marking 50 years of adult education in Tanzania.