IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

Most surveyed IATP users rated IATP centers’ work
very highly. In rating different aspects of IATP center
services, respondents gave the highest marks to: IATP
assistance to visitors (98%), IATP administrators’ helpfulness
and politeness (99%), IATP center’s rules and
office hours (99%), IATP safety provisions at centers
(98%), convenience of IATP center locations (98%) and
IATP accessibility to free services (99%). Internet connection
and computer equipment at the centers were
rated highly as well, at 91% and 92% respectively.
Technical training and free internet access at IATP
centers is considered a rare resource as IT skills are
becoming more and more a necessity in people’s
lives. Razi Samedov, a 22-year-old journalism student
from Imishli, Azerbaijan, noted, “It is important for
me that IATP provides training free of charge. It is
the only place in the region that provides free technical
training.” 28 Ketevan Revazishvili of Gori, Georgia,
commented, “It was easy to learn at the IATP center.
If we didn’t know something there were always people
eager to help.” 29 Nina Yurchenko, a 55-year-old
laboratory assistant at a tuberculosis hospital in Balkanabat,
Turkmenistan, said she came to the IATP
center because new systems at work required IT skills
and enabled them to meet modern medical standards.
30 IATP users in her town of Balkanabat noted
that the IATP center is the only place where the public
can acquire IT skills for free. They explained there
are other public training centers but classes cost approximately
$50 a piece—a price well beyond the
means of the majority of the local population, who
earns only $200/month on average. 31
Fifty-one-year-old doctor from Vinnitsa, Ukraine Natalya
Polyakova, said, “IATP users have more access
to information and are more aware of what is going
on. As a doctor, I always use online resources for my
professional development. I always check websites of
the Ministry of Public Health and the Sanitary and
Epidemiologic Institute. This allows me to be one step
ahead of my colleagues.” 32 Anna Kroytor, Director of
Kindergarten No. 9 in Comrat, Gagauzia, said that
Gagauzia has a predominantly Russian-speaking population,
and that any professional information published
in Moldovan was largely inaccessible. “The
internet introduced us to a host of Russian-language
resources on methodologies for teaching preschoolers
that have been very useful for our work,”
Kroytor said. 33 Besik Elinidze, a 35-year-old guesthouse
owner in Telavi, Georgia, commented, “Thanks
to access to the internet at the center I started to
understand and practice the principles of a market
economy. For instance, I can research my competitors’
prices on the Web and adjust my prices accordingly,
in order to make them more competitive.” 34
Technical training at IATP centers has been designed
to be technically comprehensive while at the same
time simple to understand and practical in its application.
Survey respondents noted that often their
knowledge from IATP training was deeper than that of
their colleagues and friends who had not participated
in IATP technical training. Focus group participant
Mariya Bevz, from Tiraspol, Transnistria, Moldova,
said it was her friends with computers in their home
that advised her to take courses at the IATP center in
Tiraspol. After completing training, she compared her
skills to those of her friends and was surprised that,
“Now I use the computer and internet better by far
than my friends. Even though they’ve had a computer
in their home, they only know how to do basic
things.” 35 IATP user Maksim Shirnin, a 25-year-old
psychologist from Vinnitsya, Ukraine, took computer
classes years ago in BASIC OS. He realized his knowledge
had become obsolete with the introduction of
MS Windows technology and decided he had to learn a
new set of skills. Commenting on the IATP technical
training, he said, “I am astonished at how clearly and
concisely the IATP technical training is presented.
I’ve been to other training; the way others present
the material leaves much to be desired.” 36
The fact that IREX’s IT training is free at IATP centers
makes the program unique and in high demand. In
fact 88% of surveyed IATP training participants knew
of no other place where they could participate in the
kind of free technical training that IATP centers offer;
37 99% said they would recommend IATP training
to others.
In fact, satisfied trainees were often the best recruiters
of new IATP training participants. Antonina
Vakarchuk, 52, is the director of the NGO “Youth
League Volunteer Center” in Comrat, Gagauzia,
Moldova. With IATP assistance, the NGO developed
an official letterhead and created a website. During a
focus group discussion she noted, “It is hard to work
with people who can’t work with a computer.” So she
sent her NGO employees to IATP technical training at
the IATP center in Comrat. In addition, she recommends
IATP training to the youth with whom her NGO
works. “There are a lot of people who come to our
center who need computer skills. We provide them
28 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Imishli, Azerbaijan, April 9, 2009; 29 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users group, Gori, Georgia, April 14, 2009
30 Midline focus group discussion report, Internet laggards group, Balkanabad, Turkmenistan, Novebmer 28, 2008
31 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users group, Balkanabad, Turkmenistan, November 28, 2008
32 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Vinnitsa, Ukraine, April 2, 2009
33 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Comrat, Gagauzia, Moldova, April 7, 2009
34 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users group, Telavi, Georgia, April 15, 2009
35 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Tiraspol, Transnistria, Moldova, April 6, 2009
36 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Vinnitsa, Ukraine, April 2, 2009
37 IATP trainees online survey, October 27—November 7, 2008
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