capacity building

26.12.2006 A dozen village information centres functioning in the tsunami-hit coastal villages of Tamil Nadu get Internet connectivity. This facility would provides the fishermen have access to video conferencing, weather reports, local market network on fishing trade in these villages.

21.12.2006 A five-day training programme on computer applications and its effective usage in advocacy and communications at rural level was organised for the field functionaries of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) at New Delhi from 18 – 22 December, 2006.

20.12.2006 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), IBM and Oracle today announced a joint research initiative to help Asia-Pacific countries share and create strategies, blueprints and policies for adopting the right blend of open standards and technology services. The goal will be for more countries to develop universally compatible applications and networks to make internal and external government services and transactions more automatic, affordable and efficient.

08.12.2006 INTRAC - International NGO Training and Research Centre - is running a number of courses which include Gender Analysis and Planning between 17-19 January 2007 and Evaluating Empowerment from 31 January - 2 February 2007. For more information, email training@intrac.org

08.12.2006 In Douala, Cameroon, last month the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and CEDR (the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution), Europe’s largest dispute resolution body, delivered a three-day Conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution to 32 lawyers and barristers, representing eight African countries from the Telecommunications sector.

08.12.2006 African organisation Fahamu has called for expression of interest from organisations using mobile phone technologies for social justice work in Africa. This is also applicable to those who plan to use the mobile phone for human rights work in the continent.

08.12.2006 The NPR Kroc Fellowships have been announced for young journalists who plan to work in public radio and are completing college or have graduated from college in the last one year. Though no journalism experience is required, the candidates should demonstrate drive and potential. The last date for applications is December 31, 2006.

06.12.2006 The Educational Technology Research Symposium will take place in Austin, Texas in the US from February 05-06, 2007. The event will provide a venue for educational technology researchers to present formal papers in educational technology areas. The registration fee for the Symposium also will entitle Symposium registrants to attend the TCEA Annual Convention and Exposition, Into the Next Dimension, February 7-9, 2007 at no extra cost.

06.12.2006 The first free, grassroots, completely online course devoted to teaching librarians about social software and how to use it in their libraries. The course was developed to provide a free, comprehensive, and social online learning opportunity for librarians who do not otherwise have access to conferences or continuing education and is limited to 40 people. Application deadline is December 1, 2006 and the course lasts from Feb 12, 2007 till March 17, 2007.

04.12.2006 A poverty-stricken tribal community that had migrated to Bangladesh centuries ago has found a voice through the innovative use of ICTs. Bangladesh NGO Youth Community Multimedia Centre (YCMC) that disseminates community-related information through cable network in Sitakund had an interesting experience with the Tripura tribal people in Bangladesh hills.

04.12.2006 Nobel Prize Laureate and Managing Director of Grameen Bank, Professor Muhammad Yunus, announced at the ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 opening ceremony at Hong Kong that Grameen will team up the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other partners, including Cisco Systems, QUALCOMM and a newly formed consortium, Enclusion, to launch a virtual, global 'ICT Empowerment Network' as part of their collaboration through the Connect the World initiative.

04.12.2006 On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, that falls on 4 December, the UN will seek to improve accessibility by persons with disabilities to the Internet, cell phones and other information technologies. Speakers and experts will discuss e-accessibility at a panel discussion at the UN office on Monday, December 4, 2006.