ITU Internet Training Centres Initiative for Developing Countries

1. Introduction

The ITU Internet Training Centres Initiative (ITCI) aims to help developing countries meet their human resource requirements for skilled Internet and "new economy" professionals. This is done by establishing ICT (Information and communications Technology) training programmes for both end-users and advanced users in existing training/educational institutions. ITU works with public and private-sector partners in order to set up Internet Training Centres (ITCs), using a train-the-trainers approach and transfers the Internet/IP related training programmes to the training centres/educational institutions, allowing them to provide affordable and relevant on-going training.

There are various projects under the umbrella of ITCI that address different aspects of Internet/IP networks by establishing different training programmes and targeting different audiences, using both face-to-face workshops and e-learning methods. To-date 78 ITCs have been established offering a variety of curricula: 66 centres in partnership with Cisco Systems and 12 centres in partnership with the European Commission. The attached chart provides a breakdown of all ITU-ITCs, including their location and their number of students and graduates.

2. Centres with Cisco Systems

The partnership project with Cisco, which started in 2001, has led to the establishment of 66 centres in 56 countries out of which 20 are in Least Developed countries. The curricula, offered through the Cisco Networking Academy Programme, include: Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA); Information Technology Essentials (ITE); and, Panduit’s Networking Infrastructure Essentials (PNIE). To-date, there have been 3091 graduates of these centres with another 3129 currently enrolled, including 841 female students. The programme aims for 30 per cent of students to be women. The current global average is 27 per cent; 36 per cent of students in ITCs in Africa are women.

3. Centres with the European Commission

The partnership project launched with the European Commission in 2004 provides two streams of ICT training programmes to end-users and advanced users in twelve countries, including six from LDCs. The Advanced ICT course, a 140-hour curriculum, was developed by this partnership and focuses on the use of Free and Open Source software (FLOSS) for dynamic web design. It is currently running in seven countries while the Basic ICT course, a 110-hour curriculum, focuses on the use of computers and applications donated by the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Curriculum and runs in five countries. All centres deliver courses using a combination of both self-learning and face-to-face methods, with a special emphasis on addressing the needs of marginalized communities, which differ from country to country, but which generally include: unemployed youth, illiterate youth/school leavers and women.