ETHIOPIA: 26 AFRICAN WOMEN GRADUATE FROM ECA CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

ECA Press Release No. 02/2001 For Immediate Release

FIRST BATCH OF AFRICAN WOMEN GRADUATE FROM ECA CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

Addis Ababa, 31 January 2002 (ECA) -- Twenty-six African women from 16
English-speaking African countries graduated from the Cisco Internet
Networking Academy today after 280 hours of training at the Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The training programme, organized by ECA's Information Technology Centre for
Africa (ITCA), is the first of its kind, based on the established curriculum
of the Cisco Networking Academy Programme, a global programme operating in
more than 133 countries worldwide.

The programme is underpinned by three goals:

- To reverse the current unequal access of women and men to the new
technologies;
- To address the shortage of skilled African human resources in new
technologies; and
- To provide trainees with skills that can produce high-income employment
and provide entrepreneurial opportunities.

In addition to the core course work, through ECA's African Centre for Gender
and Development, Development Management Division and the ITCA, the course
participants learned about gender and development, entrepreneurship and
business management, and ICT policies and challenges in Africa. Students
were also exposed to other major African development issues and among other
things participated in the second meeting of the Committee on Development
Information (CODI II), where many ICT issues were raised and discussed by
ECA's member states.

ECA established a Cisco Academy at the ITCA in the context of the UN
Secretary General's Global Compact, which advocates enhanced development
partnerships between the UN system and the private sector. The programme is
a partnership initiative in collaboration with leading Information
Technology company Cisco Systems Inc. and InfoDev of the World Bank. It is
supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea.

Most of the graduates are employees of governments, NGOs and the private
sector. They are expected to return to their jobs, where they will make use
of the skills and knowledge acquired at ECA. Many have also expressed an
interest in consulting and training, and are looking to secure start-up
funding to establish their own companies.

The next batch of African women, to be selected on a competitive basis from
French-speaking African countries, will enrol and start training in March
2002.

The ITCA training team of certified Cisco trainers, will maintain close
contact with the graduates and monitor their progress via mailing list and
website. In the broader context of ECA's work in Information and
Communications Technologies (ICTs) for development, the graduates will be
involved in regional and sub-regional activities, and will be encouraged to
participate in the development of National Information and Communication
Infrastructure (NICI) plans in their respective countries.

ECA has been promoting ICTs in Africa for more than two decades. Through the
African Information Society Initiative (AISI), ECA has marketed ICTs as an
engine for Africa's development. AISI is an action framework to build
Africa's information and communication infrastructure. It is a mission
statement for Africa's quest to narrow the information technology gap
between Africa and the rest of the world, and to speed the continent's entry
into the information age.

ITCA is an ICT-focused exhibition, training and content development hub,
established by ECA in 1999. Among other products, ITCA provides on-site
workshops and seminars for policy makers, delegates and other participants
to promote awareness on the importance of ICTs for economic growth and
African nations' economic competitiveness.

(END)

For more information on the ECA/ITCA Cisco Internet Networking Academy,
please contact:

Makane Faye
Manager
ITCA
Economic Commission for Africa
P.O.Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-51-45-20/45-34
Fax: +251-1-51-05-12/ 58-29/44-16
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.uneca.org/itca

Issued by the ECA Communication Team
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.uneca.org

COMING SOON "DEFINING PRIORITIES FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION" - THE THIRD
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT FORUM, ADDIS ABABA 3 - 8 MARCH 2002 --
www.uneca.org/adfIII

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