IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

More documents

Recommendations

Info

other regions and have to submit their stories and photos to the editor in person. Thanks to IATP training, one more media organization in Brest now functions as a modern news outlet. The local reporters obtain information and conduct interviews not only through phone calls but also by using instant messaging, e-mail, and Skype. They use the internet to conduct research and to submit their news packages across Belarus and from abroad. As journalist Valentin Zhuchenko explained, "The ICT skills we learned through IATP are enabling us to begin providing our readers with the latest, most up-to-date news and information, and to develop ourselves as journalists." Teachers and Librarians Teachers and librarians were, of course, included as IATP target audiences for being resources of information in their communities. Over 6,700 teachers and 3,696 librarians (1,196 more than the targeted 2,500) used IATP facilities to improve their access to information. In addition, nearly 3,000 teachers and over 2,600 librarians attended IATP technical training to further develop their professional skills. Throughout the summer of 2008, IATP maintained a focus on training librarians in Belarus as part of the Rural Library Initiative (RLI), originally launched in October 2006. Librarians embraced the initiative, with almost 2,500 rural librarians receiving training in less than two years. Including urban centers, a total of 4,000 librarians in Belarus have been trained in ICT since June 2007. Providing librarians with the solid knowledge of contemporary computer and internet technologies, IATP has contributed significantly to the improvement of the library services available to Belarusian readers. 4 Librarians in Moldova also improved their professional performance and readers’ services with the introduction of modern technology by IATP. The ICT4Librarians project co-implemented by IATP and the Ministry of Education of Moldova improved the skills of over 50 librarians from Chisinau, Cahul, and Soroca over a two-month period (March-May 2009). Many of the librarians who attended the training used computers for the first time in their lives, and learned to use technology to not only improve their institutions but also to connect with their colleagues and establish new partnerships. During the training, the librarians applied their new skills by using MS PowerPoint to create presentations about their libraries to use when conducting public outreach. They also created websites for their libraries based on easy-to-update wiki platforms (http://biblgcalinescu.wikidot.com/, http://bibl-sulac.wikidot.com, http://bibliotecatraian.wikidot.com). Three Chisinau participants—Tatiana Cucereavii, Elena Cortac, and Nadejda Pruteanu—demonstrated their new skills to their school principals and, through persistent lobbying, procured computers. All three have started work on a database of the library’s books using their knowledge of MS Excel they acquired through IATP training (http://iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2009/09/ librarians-persistence-and-innovation-brings-technology-to-chisinau-school.html). 4 For more information, see IATP Interim Report, June 2007-December 2008 (http://www.irex.org/programs/iatp/iatp_me.asp ) 12
Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs have proven themselves to be important drivers of change, supporting openness, reform, and accountability in the community while being critical agents of economic growth and citizen empowerment. Since June 2007, 3,006 private entrepreneurs (1,706 more than the targeted 1,300) in all countries of IATP operation used IATP center resources, including nearly 1,000 who received technical training. In November 2008, the IATP center in Tbilisi, Georgia, launched a training course for small business owners in collaboration with a Tbilisi City Hall project. IATP provided the aspiring entrepreneurs with ICT skills to help them operate their small businesses more efficiently and effectively. Businesswoman Tinatin Maure used her new skills to create a website and develop professional menus and brochures for her fast food business. She also sent her managers, who had no prior ICT skills, to IATP training so that they could learn to communicate through e-mail and use specialized business software to track inventory, manage accounts, and monitor their sales. Maure now has plans to incorporate Skype technology into her delivery services. An IATP graduate from Batumi, Georgia, Lela Verdzadze, is another example of IATP empowering small business entrepreneurs through technical training. Verdzadze used her newly acquired ICT skills to plan, market, and run a private driving school with her father. In December 2008, Verdzadze completed ICT basics for small business owners at the IATP center and has been an active IATP user ever since. Due to high unemployment rates in Georgia, she decided to become an independent entrepreneur. Verdzadze used IATP's free internet access to investigate the best type of business to open in her home city, visited the tax department’s website to research the legal requirements for opening a business, and prepared all necessary documentation with the help of IATP computers. In February 2009, Verdzadze and her father founded their own driving school, offering theoretical and practical lessons for those seeking a driver’s license. Lela Verdzadze commented, “With the assistance of the IATP center, I managed to obtain useful skills and information and was able to open my own driving school. To have an independent source of income is really important considering the current unemployment rate in the country.” In addition to Verdzadze’s driving school, IATP users throughout Georgia have opened furniture stores and salons, among other businesses (http://iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2009/06/ another-user-launches-a-business-with-iatp-assistancein-georgia.html). More than 145 farmers in Tajikistan acquired new ICT skills since March 2009, thanks to a burgeoning joint venture between ITAP and local NGOs committed to helping develop the country’s agricultural sector. The head of the Tajik agricultural NGO Lola Farming, Rustam Nasriddinov, inspired the initiative by asking IATP to conduct a mobile training-of-trainers (TOT) course in February 2009. Nasriddinov coordinated the February TOT session, which was designed to prepare three NGO employees and five farmers to train farmers in Tajikistan in basic computer skills, and demonstrate how advanced technologies could help develop their businesses. IATP training sessions and internet access have helped the farmers in a host of ways. Farmer Hojisobir Safoev reports that since his training he has used the internet to become more familiar with common livestock diseases. Safoev’s new knowledge often helps him and his colleagues prevent, diagnose, and treat animal health issues. Early care can make a big difference; as Safoev explained, it can take a long time for a veterinarian to visit ailing animals and in some cases a farmer can lose livestock because of the delay. A farmer from Vahdat, Safarov Islom, recounted how his son sent him additives from Russia for his livestock feed. When the package arrived, however, he realized all of the directions had been rubbed off en route and he did not know how much product to mix with his feed. Thanks to IATP-supported training, Islom researched the brand name online and learned how to properly use the additives. Farmers trained through Lola and IATP have even learned to conduct market research on the internet to fairly price their products and keep up-to-date with the latest developments in their industry. As Nasriddinov explained, “Before most of the farmers in my region used to conduct business in the traditional way—buying and selling products at the market. Now many of them do it online.” Some farmers have even established clients and partners abroad, shipping and selling their products to foreign markets. 13
Page 1 and 2: INTERNET ACCESS AND TRAINING PROGRA
Page 3 and 4: Executive summary .................
Page 5 and 6: I. INTRODUCTION IATP aimed to spur
Page 7 and 8: IATP users coming to IATP centers i
Page 9 and 10: IV. OBJECTIVE 1: Citizens are Empow
Page 11: NGO Officials IATP also partnered w
Page 15 and 16: 6 Midline focus group discussion re
Page 17 and 18: Implementation of knowledge and ski
Page 19 and 20: Thanks to IATP’s assistance and r
Page 21 and 22: IATP center contacts where they can
Page 23 and 24: Libraries were also sometimes menti
Page 25 and 26: F. IATP Responds to Internally Disp
Page 27 and 28: G. IATP Empowers Youth in Turkmenis
Page 29 and 30: During the focus group she announce
Page 31 and 32: Year One : • 61 in-country online
Page 33 and 34: Natalya Polyakova, a 51-year-old do
Page 35 and 36: Objective 3 Outcomes : Year One:
Page 37 and 38: Living with HIV/AIDS (network.org.u
Page 39 and 40: ment. The deputy decided to provide
Page 41 and 42: Tajik.” Through IATP’s free tec
Page 43 and 44: VIII. CONCLUSIONS A.Summary of Find
Page 45: there still is a need for free, qua

IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?