IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

In October 2008, the official website of the Dnipropetrovsk
Regional Center of Social Services for
Family Children and Youth (www.docsssdm.dp.ua)
went online, providing better access to information
about social services for economically disadvantaged
families with members having disabilities.
The online resource was developed by government
officials who were participants of ICT training in
October and November 2008 as part of IATP’s ongoing
e-government initiative in Dnipropetrovsk,
Ukraine. The website was officially presented in
late October at a press conference for 17 local
mass media representatives, organized by the
USAID-funded Ukrainian Reform of Education Program
(UREP). It offers tools for interactive communication
between visitors and social workers that
are already being utilized by the community at the
local IATP center. 95
Representatives of seven Azerbaijani political parties
can now advocate their ideas and policies
online. They learned these advanced computer
skills through training conducted by IATP and its
USAID-funded partner the National Democratic Institute
(NDI). Internet advertising is the second
step of computer courses for the party members,
following productivity and data management training.
With ICT rapidly changing the realm of media,
NDI asked IATP to train the representatives in developing
and managing their party websites. Seven
officials attended training, including representatives
from the Democratic Reforms Party (http://
www.demreforms.org), the New Azerbaijan Party,
the Azerbaijan National Independence Party
(http://amipmillet.az.iatp.net/), the Umid Party
(http://umidgencler.az.iatp.net), the Azerbaijan
Popular Front Party (http://
axcpgencleri.az.iatp.net), the Musavat Party, and
the Azerbaijan Democratic Party. Director of Sahil
Ltd. Vahid Gasymov facilitated the event. Gasymov
is also a founder of the BarCamp Conference –
an international participatory conference on technology
– that IATP staff members attended last August.
During the training, participants learned
about how to create internet advertisements, use
effective online marketing tools, and monitor their
advertisement’s results. As a result of the training,
the political party representatives created flash
animation Web banner test samples before applying
their skills to their parties’ websites (http://
iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2009/02/azerbaijanipolitical-parties-advance-online-outreach-skills-atgraduated-iatp-center.html).
Websites have also benefited NGOs by improving
their ability to communication and establish partnerships
with their colleagues abroad, as well as
increasing international collaboration on events of
mutual interest. The director of the NGO Network
of Cultural Exchange and Interethnic Confidence
(NCEIC) in Sevastopol, Ukraine, Tetyana Semiushkina
organized a three-day international seminar
on the topic “Religion and Civil Society: New National
Boundaries and the Paradoxes of the Globalization
of Culture” at the end of November 2008.
NCEIC’s website, developed with the assistance of
IATP in 2003, has helped attract more people to
the organization’s activities and, as a result, more
experts on building tolerance in multiethnic societies
have been attending Semiushkina’s seminars.
She also uses her multimedia skills to promote
NCEIC at public events, update its website, and
disseminate information. Thanks to IATP Web design
training, Semiushkina has increased NCEIC’s
profile and active member participation from as
few as 30 in 2003 to 120 at the November meeting—including
participants from Ukraine, Russia,
the United States, and Chile (http://
iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2008/12/iatp-useradvocates-tolerance-in-multiethnic-society.html).
IATP Web design training has also been embraced
by active educational institutions in Eurasia. Kindergarten
No. 9 in Comrat, Gagauzia, Moldova,
participated in a pilot project for pre-school educational
institutions in the region and was the first
to create a website for its school
(detsad9.md.iatp.net). Each kindergarten class
now has its own webpage, posting pictures of the
children and information on the school. All teachers
at Kindergarten No. 9 participated in IATP technical
training. When the local deputy visited the
kindergarten, the school director mentioned that
all the teachers were trained in ICT and used computers
and internet for their professional develop-
95 For more information, see IATP Interim M&E Report, June 2007 – December 2008
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