ITU - BDT Helps Develop the Human Capital for the Information Society

Infrastructure and connectivity are the fundamental pillars on which the Information Society will be based. But, creating the information society goes beyond wire in the ground. It is not only about breaching a digital divide, but also a divide in education, knowledge, wealth, etc. It is one thing to bring the infrastructure to the community and another is to show them how they can make best use of the technology.

The Bávaro Declaration of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) regional preparatory meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean agreed to reinforce the development of a qualified human capital through e-learning mechanisms aimed at training the population in the use of ICTs in various schools and other learning institutions. The ITU - BDT supports a capacity building programme, which assists developing countries to strengthen their human, institutional and organizational capacity through human resource management and development, which are essential ingredients in the Information Society.

The guiding philosophy of the Human Resources Development programme in BDT is to assist countries in building institutional and organizational capacity: to help them learn how to fish, rather than giving them the fish. The main objective is not to deliver training ourselves, but to help our constituents deliver it and to build their own capacity.

The Internet Training Centres Initiative (ITCI) is a major contribution to the Information Society. The BDT plans to establish a worldwide network of 50 Internet Training Centres providing training on Internet networks and services to students and professionals on telecommunications by mid-2003.

"In many developing countries, students face particular difficulties gaining access to any kind of training," said Manuel Zaragoza, of BDT’s Human Resources Development Unit. "In Africa, for instance, high costs force universities to restrict full Internet access to staff or, at most, graduate students."

BDT will provide students in developing countries with access to affordable and relevant training using both face-to-face and distance-based training methods. “Train-the-trainers” is a hands-on course designed to teach students the skills needed to plan, build and maintain small to medium-sized IP-based networks. The program is available in 9 languages: English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Until now, ITU has established in partnership with Cisco internet training centers at the Universidad Autónoma de Honduras in Honduras and the Escuela Superior del Litoral in Ecuador which are already operating with 200 students. Other centers in Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay are in the process of becoming operational. ITCI considered a tangible contribution to sustainable development, and a successful case of private-public partnership.

Besides promoting the use of ICTs among students at all socio-economic levels, and supporting communications students to complete their studies through its YES scheme, ITU is also offering a Virtual Training Centre that provides e-learning courses for high-level decision-makers in telecommunications entities. This is spearheaded by the Centres of  Excellence for the Americas region whose purpose is “to establish a regional mechanism in order to strengthen the region’s capacity to generate the highest level of knowledge and experience in all aspects of telecommunication policy, regulatory issues, telecommunication management and the new technologies and services”. About 60% of ITU’s e-learning distance courses in 2002 were delivered in Latin America. In 2002, 33 Latin American countries and from the Caribbean region participated with 720 persons enrolled. “I benefited greatly from an interconnection network e-course offered by ITU,” said Pedro Ramírez, legal consultant on regulations in CODETEL. “These e-courses are very practical since they are compatible with your job, you can do them in your free time and from any terminal. They offer a high-level content for professionals in the area of telecommunications”.

Melissa Arditto, ITU – BDT