Empowering indigenous people in the Philippines through digital literacy training programme

Empowering indigenous people in the Philippines through digital literacy training programme

Barangay Baganihan in Davao’s Marilog District is one of the Philippines’ Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas. Consequently, the region faces challenges including the lack of Internet connectivity and ICT infrastructure.

To develop digital skills in the community, made up mostly of indigenous people, the country’s Digital Transformation Centre (DTC) joined forces with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) to conduct train-the-trainer and citizens’ trainings.

During the sessions, community leaders, women entrepreneurs, and young people from the Matigsalug, Manobo, and Lumad tribes were introduced to the Cisco Networking Academy and HP-LIFE platforms. They also learned the basics about using computers and mobile devices, studied cybersecurity, and acquired digital business skills.

DTC-DITC citizens’ trainings in Barangay Baganihan in Davao’s Marilog District

The training was implemented under the DTC Initiative through the “Boosting digital skills through Digital Transformation Centres” project, funded by Government of Norway and ITU.

PLDT-Smart – a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and partner of the DTC Initiative – collaborated with DICT to provide devices and data for training beneficiaries.

The sessions were led by instructors from DICT, who will support, engage, and follow up with the participants as they put their new digital skills to use.

About the Digital Transformation Centres:

The Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) Initiative was launched in September 2019 by ITU in partnership with Cisco with the objective of supporting countries to strengthen digital capacities of citizens, particularly in the underserved communities. The selected DTCs become part of a global network of institutions to accelerate the uptake of digital technologies among citizens and boost the capacity of young entrepreneurs and SMEs to succeed in the digital economy.

Learn more about the Digital Transformation Centres Initiative here.

This is an ITU Development #DigitalImpactUnlocked story

About the project

Project number: 7GLO23133
Project title: Boosting digital skills through Digital Transformation Centres (DTCs) – Phase 2
Description: This project supports the activities implemented under the DTC Initiative. In particular, it supports activities aimed at scaling the delivery of digital skills training – and hence digital literacy – in local communities and among marginalized groups. At the end of the project, in the beneficiary countries there will be a substantial increase in the number of people trained on basic and intermediate digital skills equipping them with job-ready skills that help them increase their socio-economic well-being.

Visit the project page for more details.