Wire the World - Global

The Wire the World programme is made up of Digital Communities that deliver training and work placement to the disadvantaged. These communites include 'e-Academies' that guide students along an IT Career Path that includes keyboard skills, IT courses in IT basics (like Microsoft Word) and multi-media, computer maintenance, data entry, web design, and programming. Local partners add their own unique confidence-building, entrepreneurship, and job hunting courses to help foster job placement. 'Digital Workshops' help participants find work in the IT industry, either in their local community or overseas. Digital Workshops participating in this scheme must sign a good practice charter guaranteeing fair wages, certified training of staff through the eAcademy programme, and commitment to use only open source or licensed software.

Projects currently operate (with the support of volunteers) in India, Brazil, and South Africa. The plan is to expand the programme to 30 community groups in Africa, India, Latin America, and the UK by July, 2003.

Technology, Economic Development, Children, Youth.

Oasis Trust is a Christian organisation working with partners in 13 countries to deliver global, community, youth, and church action initiatives.

Wire the World is based on the belief that people need more than basic education to escape poverty; computer training is one way to accomplish economic development. The use of open source software decreases cost.

One site, located in a school in a Bombay slum, makes the premises available to the street kids and school drop-outs in the evening. Impact data indicates that young people there have progressed from learning simple Microsoft Word skills to programming courses within three months. Job placements can also happen quite quickly, for there is a shortage IT-skilled people in developing countries.Partners
The Department for International Development; NewMediaSpark; QA; Pearson Information; Abiah Oasis Brazil.