Why ICTs belong in International Development

Short commentary by Peter MacGibbon

“Developing country governments increasingly recognize—and in many cases are openly stating—that a commitment to the implementation and use of information/communication technologies is the key to their nation’s future. This commitment is being bolstered by broader international community initiatives such as the recently-held World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva that tout cooperative public-private approaches for bridging the digital divide”. (Read more…)

The Quebec Learners’ Network and its partner Conseil Equilibrio have a strong background in international development work. Key to our success has been a strong commitment to good project management and targeted capacity building. Our international skill set includes project design, delivery and evaluation, as well as training and troubleshooting. We also have extensive experience with low-cost learning and communication technologies as a cornerstone to sustainability.

Our collective international / cross-cultural experience includes:

The Quebec Learners’ Network

Aboriginal distance education program design, development, and delivery:
Established and coordinated Heritage College’s Preparing for College program and the Starting Your Own Business program (1995-2000) delivered by videoconferencing to aboriginal Cree students in the James Bay Cree School Board in northern Quebec.

Monitoring Status of Burmese Refugee Camps:
Field-researched and wrote report on Burmese, Karen, Mon, and Wa refugee camps in Thailand and Burma.

Cross-cultural workplace communications:
Trained professionals and employees from outside of Canada in cross-cultural English communication skills.

Publications for International Readership:
Video/Videoconferencing in Support of Distance Education. Commonwealth of Learning’s Knowledge Network Series (co-written by Linda Stilborne & Peter MacGibbon)

The Management of Distance Education Videoconferencing Classes. Journal of the University of Helsinki, Teacher Education Department, Finland (by Peter MacGibbon)

Training in Distance Education Methods and Technologies:
Provided learning technology training to three major Southeast Asian clients:

• Thaicom (Thailand) Development Project for Non-formal Education (Regional Administrators)
• Malaysian Science & Technology in Education Mission (including Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Education)
• Indonesian Business Development Project (including regional post-secondary Business Development departmental representatives)

Language School Management: Directed the English Language Services Centre—ELS International, Johor Bahru, Malaysia—providing management, hiring, teacher supervision, planning and curriculum development services.

Minorities Training: Provided training services to the Government School for Hill-Tribes Minorities, Suksasongkroh Tak, Thailand.

Conseil Equilibrio

Results Based Management (RBM) framework development and training:
Worked with the Unitarian Services Committee of Canada and YAPPIKA to develop the RBM framework for PPD2—a major democratization project in Indonesia.

Knowledge network building:
Facilitated the development of the Bolivian Sustainable Urban Development Network for the University of Toronto and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Conference design and facilitation:
Worked with IDRC to design and launch the Global Medicinal Plants Network in India.

Resource centre evaluation:
Evaluated the PACT Indonesia Resource Centre.

Electronic networking by NGOs in Indonesia:
Researched and wrote this report on training and development opportunities for IDRC's Pan Network in Singapore.

Program evaluation, training and apprenticeship program development: Worked with Planned Parenthood Indonesia and four partner NGOs to build the AIDS programming capacity.

Skills building workshop program design and delivery:
Worked for the Philippines Ministry of Health to develop the Skills Building Workshops for the 4th International Conference on AIDS in Asia.

AIDS education program development and fundraising program design:
Worked with the nursing and medical staff at the Tibetan Delek Hospital in Dharamsala Himachal Pradesh India.

Development of consulting skills for Chinese managers:
Helped develop the consultant training program at the Anhui Management Development Institute for the Foundation for International Training, and the Canadian International Development Agency.