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ITU inaugurates new Internet Training Centre in Togo
New centre expand horizons for thousands of young people
across the region
Lomé, Togo, 9 December 2010 - ITU has joined with Togo’s Centre Regional de Maintenance des Telecommunications de Lomé (CMTL) and Cisco Systems to open a new Internet Training Centre in the Togolese capital, Lomé, giving youth throughout the region the chance to dramatically enhance their career prospects through the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The new centre was inaugurated by Mr Romain Atafeitom
Tagba, Director of the Cabinet of Togolese Minister of
Posts and Telecommunications; Mr Michel Ouedraogo,
Director-General of CTML; and Mr Robert Shaw, Head of
Human Capacity Building with ITU’s Telecommunication
Development Bureau (BDT), on behalf of BDT Director Mr
Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid.
It was established as a result of a request from CMTL in
April this year, and was opened in conjunction with a
meeting of the Steering Committee of the ITU Academy
Centres of Excellence network in Africa, which is taking
place on 9-10 December.
Five instructors are now being trained in the Cisco
Certified Networking Academy (CCNA) curriculum, using a
train-the-trainer approach. The curriculum will then be
offered to students at CMTL from 2011.
The world-class ICT training available at the Centre
will enable more young people from Togo and the West
African region to gain industry-recognized certification
and skills that will be in strong demand in today’s and
tomorrow’s labour market. Developed under the auspices
of the ITU Academy programme (http://academy.itu.int),
the new Centre is part of a broader effort by ITU and
its partners to extend the benefits of ICTs to people
everywhere and prepare countries for a broadband-enabled
economy.
"The skills taught at this new Internet Training Centre
will help young Africans from all socio-economic strata
establish exciting and well-paid careers in the booming
ICT sector – a sector which has been responsible for
creating more jobs over the past five years than any
other industry,” said ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun
Touré.
The technical training offered at the Centre is
complemented by training in soft skills and
entrepreneurship, to help students launch their own
businesses and promote technological empowerment as a
path to economic and social development. ITU will
initially supply one set of Security Premium lab
equipment to teach the curriculum, which will also
enable the Centre to later offer a more advanced
security curriculum.
ITU’s Internet Training Centre initiative was launched
in 2001, with Cisco Systems as the first major global
partner. In the 10 years since, it has grown into a
network of more 80 Internet Training Centres around the
world, with additional partners including the European
Commission, Microsoft, Inveneo and local
training/education institutes in different regions.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Parkes
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information
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+41 22 730 6135 |
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+41 79 599 1439 |
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sarah.parkes@itu.int |
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Robert Shaw
Head, Human Capacity Building
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+ 41 22 730 5338 |
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+41 79 217 3520 |
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robert.shaw@itu.int |
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