ITU Telecom World 2003 Special: Bringing IT Skills to Developing Countries and Emerging Economies

October 15, 2003

By Jason Deign, News@Cisco

Cisco Systems® and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have pledged further support for the Internet Training Centers Initiative (ITCI) which has succeeded in creating network technology learning centers of excellence across the globe. The two organizations made the announcement at this year's ITU Telecom World conference being held in Geneva Switzerland, October 12-15.

The ITU Development Bureau (BDT) introduced the Internet Training Centers Initiative (ITCI) in May 2001 with Cisco as the pioneering partner. The initiative's aim was to provide students and professionals in developing countries with access to affordable and relevant IT training via the Cisco Networking Academy Program, a comprehensive e-learning program that provides students with the Internet technology skills to design, build and maintain networks. Combining instructor-led, online education with hands-on laboratory exercises, the Cisco Networking Academy's curriculum enables students to apply what they learn in class while working on actual networks.

This winning relationship between Cisco and the ITU has been cemented at ITU Telecom World 2003 with the announcement that the two organizations would be extending their collaboration to provide Internet education and greater access to information technology.

This extended collaboration includes establishing 20 new ITCs in Ministries of Communications, or their equivalent, all running the Cisco Networking Academy Program and using a 'train the trainers' approach to prepare institutions for the delivery of Academy courses to students. In addition to the new ITCs, the ITU and Cisco are extending the curriculum in 20 of the best-performing Academies currently within the ITCI, to enhance the IT competencies of students.

"Governments in developing countries recognize the importance of having skilled professionals to help them bridge the digital divide and always welcome the opportunity to have adequate IT training facilities to train their own staff responsible for telecommunications policy," says Hamadoun Touri, Director of the BDT.

"One of our goals for the ITCI is to strengthen Internet skills on a large scale. We believe extending the initiative to include government officials can only benefit the economy of each country."

Of the 20 new ITCs, half will be in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region; five will be in Asia and five will be in Latin America.

The expanded Academy curricula—sponsored by HP, Panduit and Sun—will cover PC hardware and software, network operating systems, fundamentals of voice and data cabling systems, and UNIX and Java programming besides the CCNA® course.

The ITCI had a set of more specific goals, which were to:

• Establish 50 Internet Training Centers (ITCs) across the globe by end of 2003, targeting least-developed countries (LDCs) where possible
• Train a minimum of 50 students per institution in the CCNA® curriculum annually
• Achieve 30 percent female enrollment
• Strengthen Internet and networking skills of the staff within national telecos

Many of the goals have already been reached - or in some cases exceeded. The ITCI has established 55 ITCs and more than 2,500 students have enrolled so far, 30 percent of whom are female. Additionally, 18 percent of the 147 instructors trained to date are also female and 181 people have graduated.

The initiative has benefited people such as Anita Sanyu Mago-Sempa, who works for a media services company in Uganda.

She achieved CCNA® certification at the Makerere University in Kampala, where the Cisco Networking Academy Program is taught within the Department of Women and Gender Studies.

"My work involves video shooting, editing, and consultancy," she says. "The company is expanding into computer networking, an upcoming area where there is still a gap in such services offered. As a starting point, I will be able to network my company's computers. The skills I have acquired also enable me to give advice to my clients on computer specifications. I will also introduce and set up LANs for organizations, companies, and schools."

"My study of the CCNA course has been a very enriching experience that has opened up new avenues for me in the IT world. I am grateful that Cisco and the ITU conceived the idea of bringing this opportunity to Uganda."

"Nowadays we have many great advantages in our society, which come from technology," says Carlos Deidan, of the Escuela Superior Politicnica del Litoral (ESPOL) Academy in Ecuador.

"Computer networking is actually the most important technology in our world and Cisco has shown tremendous initiative in this field by creating the Cisco Networking Academy Program." The Academy program helped me to develop skills in the networking area and gave me the opportunity to demonstrate these skills."

"The Cisco Networking Academy Program is succeeding every day in teaching students around the world the skills they need to join the information age and to help their communities," says Tae Yoo, Vice President of Corporate Philanthropy at Cisco. "We are proud to be extending our association with the ITU to give developing countries access to the same training opportunities available elsewhere."

Jason Deign is a freelance writer based in Barcelona, Spain.