USAID, ICTs & Education : Zeroing in on Some Concrete Cases

1. All ADEC MeetingWashington DC May 2-3, 2006 USAID, ICTs & Education: Zeroing in on Some Concrete Cases Dr. Noreene Janus ICT Advisor USAID/EGAT/I&E/ICT

2. Digital Technology for Education in USAID-Assisted Countries • Examples • Armenia • NetTel Africa • Mexico TIES • Macedonia Connects • Guatemala Last Mile Initiative

3. Armenia: University Consortium for Distance Education • Three Yerevan Universities participating: Institute of the Economy, State University, and State Engineering University. • To provide the future workforce of Armenia with skills and training to engage in industrial and entrepreneurial ventures • Developed MSIS degree program at graduate level • Increasing collaboration between the universities to improve distance education • Found that WEBCT and Blackboard didn’t support multilingual implementation and were too expensive, so developed customized online systems to further their distance education goals • Working remotely with NYU faculty on design of distance education programs • Membership in the Sakai open-source open-stds distance learning tool

4. NetTel@Africa: a transnational network for capacity building and information sharing among African policy makers, private sector operators, consumers, and universities • Effective Policy and regulation • Infrastructure • Strengthened ICT Teaching, Learning, and Researching • Peer-to-Peer Exchanges • Collaborative Research on ICT Policy and Regulation • eLearning using the KEWL tool developed in WUniversity of the Western Cape • ICT Applications

5. Mexico: Training, Internships, Exchanges, and Scholarships (TIES) Program. • $50-million program links U.S. and Mexican universities in finding innovative solutions to development challenges. • Focus on small business support, energy efficiency, environmental conservation, rural development, technology transfer, and workforce training. • Supports degree programs in business and public administration • Faculty exchanges between the countries and scholarships to more than 750 students and professors in Mexico for U.S. study programs in natural resources management, coastal management, and transborder public administration. • See www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_sep05/tiesprofile.htm

6. Programa Para el Futuro - ICT and Employability Training for Poor Brazilian Youth • Innovative curriculum, integrating information and communication technology (ICT) and employability training, workplace readiness and computer skills • Partners: NGOS: LTNet Brasil, Casa de Passagem, Porto Digital, CDI-Pernambuco • Private Sector: • The Bank of Brazil- space for the training facility • IBM-Brazil - computer hardware • Microsoft-Brazil -- all software

7. USAID’s Last Mile Initiative (LMI) • Global program to expand the access of the rural poor to communications. • Launched in 2004 to spur increases in productivity and to transform the development prospects of farmers, small businesses, new startups and other organizations in rural areas presently underserved by the world's major voice and data telecommunications networks. • Focus is on sustainable business models • There are 25 Last Mile country programs • Most LMI countries work in a Global Development Alliance through which the contributions of small US technology firms are leveraged. Firms will contribute technical expertise and equipment.

8. “Macedonia Connects” GOALS • To provide internet access to every school in Macedonia • To reduce the cost of accessing the Internet • To increase Internet penetration • To find a way to create competitive atmosphere in a monopolistic telecom environment • To introduce a sustainable long term solution

9. Vision: A national connectivity project with schools as the anchor tenant • Created the first wireless country • No equipment purchases • Aggregated public demand for services • Leveraged $2.5M in service purchases into a $5M nationwide network • Increased Internet penetration from 4% to 25%

10. Development of the Internet Network

11. Internet for the Schools • Speed 512/128Kbps (Dial-up x 10) • 24 hour Internet Access for 2 years • Online - continuous access • Email addresses - students, teachers, principals • Connection with all schools in Macedonia and the world • Free communication for everyone • Web page - hosting for every school

12. Internet for Consumers • Reduction in the price of broadband services from $150 US to as little as US$10 • Dial-up, WiFi and point-to-point wireless access nationwide • VoIP Access • Free email accounts • Mesh networking covers Skopje • Mesh network will cover 11 other cities in Macedonia providing WiFi coverage for 58% of population by December 2006 • All consumers have access to dedicated wireless services at home for US$25-50 via Motorola canopy solution

13. School Environment Pico-Cell Macedonia First All Wireless Country Rural Environment Urban Environment Internet Available for Everyone

14. Guatemala CONNECTIVITY FOR EDUCATION • Will provide connectivity – voice and broadband Internet—to schools and surrounding communities in Solola, Guatemala. • The module includes teacher training and curriculum reform. • Business Model --Micro-Telco, a small entrepreneur telecommunications operator that will operate in Solola.

15. Last Mile Micro-Telco Architecture

16. Which modelis sustainable?

17. njanus@usaid.gov