This publication presents a report on the first Pan-African meeting on distance education. The materials reveal that development of distance education in Africa depends on three factors: information and research, the training of specialists, and the production or acquisition of materials. A report of the plenary session summarizes presentations by educational institutions and international organizations concerning the situation of distance education in Africa and information supplied by representatives of funding bodies on their present lines of approach. The following organizations and funding agencies are represented: the International Council for Distance Education; Technologies and Research Section, UNESCO's Education Sector; International Extension College, London; Milton Keynes Open University, United Kingdom; UNESCO; African Development Bank; United National Development Programme; Commonwealth Secretariat, Nairobi; French Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Donogh O'Malley Regional Technical College, Ireland; U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C.; National Committee for Nomadic Education, Nigeria; and Consortium International Francophone de Formation a Distance. A summary of the report of Committee I on the identification of critical points of distance education projects discusses distance education policy; priorities in the use of distance education; infrastructure required by distance education; development of the capacity of institutions; and cooperation and foreign aid. The summary of Committee II reports on deliberations on the promotion of subregional, regional, and international cooperation in distance education. Focuses are on: information and research; human resource development, material development, position of donors, government support, and follow-up. Appendixes include: (1) a description of a reference compendium for developing and managing distance education operations that provides practitioners with information on how to develop distance education operations in a wide variety of configurations; (2) form used to gather information for the compendium; (3) opening address by John B. Kabore, representative of the Director-General of UNESCO; (4) address by the Tanzanian Minister of Education, A. H. Mayagila; (5) extracts from Kabore's address at the closing session; (6) address by the Arusha regional commissioner, A. Mwingira; and (7) list of participants. (YLB)