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P artnership f or L ebanon

P artnership f or L ebanon. Aly Harakeh Microsoft Lebanon November 10 – 11, 2007. I ntroduction.

hadassah-noel
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P artnership f or L ebanon

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  1. Partnership for Lebanon Aly Harakeh Microsoft Lebanon November 10 – 11, 2007

  2. Introduction The Partnership for Lebanon was established by U.S. business leaders in September, 2006 to assist the reconstruction efforts in Lebanon and to help the people of Lebanon find the path to long-term stability and economic growth. The Partnership’s leaders include: • Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corporation • Craig Barrett, Chairman, Intel Corporation • John Chambers, President and CEO, Cisco Systems, Inc. • Yousif Ghafari, Chairman, GHAFARI, Inc. • Dr. Ray Irani, Chairman, President and CEO, Occidental Petroleum Corporation The Partnership is working with businesses in the United States, Lebanon and across the globe to forge public-private partnerships designed to expand the reach of education and workforce training, create jobs and build Lebanon’s technology infrastructure.

  3. Situation & Challenges • This September, the Partnership for Lebanon celebrated its first anniversary; and despite the political and economic hardships that affected Lebanon, the Partnership has made great strides in laying the ground work for its projects including stronger ties with the country’s decision makers and influencers, professional business associations, trade organizations and chambers of commerce and industry. • The partnership sponsored a number of studies to identify niche projects where ICT plays a role of enabler as well as other ICT programs that maximizes the potential of Lebanon’s strengths. • The precarious security situation continues to pose a major obstacle in the development of the country’s ICT infrastructure as well as accelerating the adoption of ICT in small and medium businesses. • The political standoff between the ruling majority and the opposition also weighs heavily on the economy and delays necessary legislation to speed the privatization and liberalization process necessary to introduce better and more competitive ICT services.

  4. Workstreams Five PfLWorkstreams • WORKSTREAM I: Job Creation / Private Sector Revival (SMB Fast Start) • WORKSTREAM II: Workforce Training – Internships and Student to Business (S2B) • WORKSTREAM III: Education (School in a Box, IT Academies) • WORKSTREAM IV: Connected Communities / Connected Government (PICTAs and E-Government) • WORKSTREAM V: ICT Infrastructure (Broadband Lebanon)

  5. WORKSTREAM I Job Creation / Private Sector Revival (SMB Fast Start) • Objective: Promote the development of the private sector for future job creation and growth. • Business Matching: The US Chamber of Commerce hosted 2 events on behalf of the Partnership in each of Washington DC and New York City on June 12 & 13 in an effort to introduce the US private sector to opportunities in Lebanon. • SME Enablement: Microsoft has stepped forward to take the lead on a new initiative for SME Enablement which will include an executive mentorship program, business acceleration training, and entrepreneurial seminars.   • Sector Study: Occidental Petroleum funded a study with AUB to identify optimal sectors for investment which should be completed in October 2007. • Equity Investment: • Following Intel’s investment of $500K in Berytech, Cisco is actively working on finalizing its upcoming initial investment in the Lebanese private sector

  6. WORKSTREAM IIWorkforce Training Internships and Student to Business (S2B) • Objective: Provide critical skills training and knowledge transfer to Lebanon’s youth, leading to new business development and enhanced job opportunities in Lebanon. • U.S. Internships: • Cisco is currently hosting 16 Interns in San Jose and Phoenix. They will complete their program on October 14th. They have been involved with LebNet, TechWadi and Lebanese American Association. They have organized and presented at 3 cultural events at Cisco. They have published 4 “Get Connected” newsletters. They have l met with several Cisco Executives, including Randy Pond, SVP of Operations for Cisco.. 10 out of the 16 interns will complete their CCNA by the end of the program. In addition, they have attended project management and business seminar along with the Phoenix team who joined them via Telepresence. The interns have taken advantage of the many business and technical classes online t through Cisco’s EMS. • The 4 Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) interns at Intel have successfully completed their program last month and have all returned to their precious work. • GHAFARI is currently managing 2 Interns in Qatar and 1 Intern in the US.

  7. WORKSTREAM II (Cont’d) Workforce Training Internships and Student to Business (S2B) • Lebanon Internships: • Cisco announced on August 6th that the Lebanese government will work with the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR)to proceed with implementing the grant for 25 CCNA graduates to be placed in IT related positions in various government institutions over 11 months. AmidEast has begun advertising and recruiting these candidates from Cisco Networking Academy graduates. The first group will start by early October. • In addition, Cisco will place 14 interns over 11 months in the Lebanon Private Sector including Cisco’s Beirut office and at Cisco Partners. • Together with its partners, Microsoft is working on a plan to identify, train and place 50 Lebanese interns.

  8. WORKSTREAM IIIEducation (School in a Box, IT Academies) Objective: Expand the network IT skills of Lebanon’s youth for improved job opportunity. • Professional Academies: • 5 Cisco Networking Academies opened in July 2007 • Targeting 16 Public High Schools to launch Cisco IT Essentials (ITE) • MOU signed between the Ministry of Education and the Hariri foundation to enable the introduction of the ITE program in the 16 selected schools • 8 instructors trained to date. 3 schools will start the program in the Summer ’07 while the other 13 schools will be ready by September ‘07 • Adding 7 Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) Academies with focus on Vocational training. Targeting a start date of September • Adding advanced technology education to 10 currently successful Academies (5 Security and 5 Wireless academies). • Microsoft IT Academies – currently putting plan together for determining how many will open in 2007 • Education: • Draft proposal of the “School in a Box” was reviewed by the Partnership team on September 5th • The team is working on next steps, follow-up took place on 3rd week in October

  9. WORKSTREAM IV Connected Communities / Connected Government (PICTAs and E-Government) • Objective: Assist the Lebanese people and government in long term IT-based transformation projects for improving communications, providing more efficient delivery of services to citizens, and providing community-based access, education and development. • Connected Community Implementation: • Integrated Mercy Corps and Ijma3 management team created • All Community Centers upgraded to PICTA standards • 5 Community Mobilizers and 5 local NGO reps received training and certification in community mobilization techniques. • Survey of ICT knowledge and access conducted in all 5 locations by survey teams trained by MC • Telemedicine: Intel is providing 6-months of WiMax connectivity in Nabatieh and Bourj al Barajneh. • Created Focus groups in all 5 locations with youth, women, businesspeople, and government officials to discuss ICT access and potential. • Community Leadership Circles (CLC) meetings being held to present survey and focus group findings; brainstorm on projects to meet identified needs. • One project proposal for each locationpresented to National Advisory Committee. • Connected Government Implementation: • Donated 2 Telepresence Suites to Government, implementation scheduled for February 2008 • Conducted limited needs assessments with various ministries • In the process of defining engagement to help with revising the e-strategy for Lebanon

  10. WORKSTREAM V ICT Infrastructure (Broadband Lebanon) • Objective: Support the establishment of a broadband infrastructure in Lebanon as a foundation for improved communications and e-commerce, benefiting Lebanon’s future economic growth. Telecom infrastructure will benefit all the Workstreams mentioned above. • 14 September 2007 TRA Workshop: • Attendees: the 5 members of the TRA, representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, representatives from Cisco, Intel, & Microsoft • The Partnership will present the National Broadband Strategy Draft 2.0: • The vision: to help Lebanon implement the most advanced communications infrastructure of the Middle-East • Value Case (revenues vs. cost of network) –business case for a privately funded network • Architecture Choices –network options for Urban, Metro, and Access with assumptions on geographical coverage • Regulatory Framework - TRA needs to promulgate and enforce balanced pro-competitive rules and regulations in order for the strategy to succeed • Wireless Broadband Standards & Regulations • Potential applications and services

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