ICT R&D Grants Programme for Asia Pacific

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Interim Technical Report

Project Title:
Low-cost IT center for the Philippines

1.0 Project Details
Project Name: The Scala Program
Grants Proposal Reference Number: 0301A3_ S03
Research Organisation: Engineers Without Borders, Canada
Country: Philippines
Research Team: Sarah Murray, Parker Mitchell, Nabeel Al-Kady, Louis Dorval, Benjamin Green, John English
Date of Presentation: October 2003

2.0 Executive Summary
This narrative interim report summarises our outputs and progress to date for the first three months of the granting period of the Scala Program, from May 2003 to August 2003. It outlines the program's progress, and we outline some of the lessons and challenges from the experiences to date.

We are also proud to share with you the good news that the Scala Program is a finalist for the prestigious Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Youth Award 2003. The GKP Youth Award aims to reward and bring international recognition to the outstanding work of young people who have used ICT for the promotion of development around the world. We are very excited about this recognition and know that this exposure will increase our positive impact for the next phase. With your permission, we will recognise the foresight of the Pan Asia Grant in allowing us to undertake this work.

3.0 Outputs

Objective	Progress	Outcomes
Revisit and review the development outcomes associated with the set-up of the first centre	The first centre was set-up May-August 2002, within the branch of the national TESDA (Technical and Educational Skills Development Authority). The assessment during May-August 2003 includes reviewing the annual number of trainees, the percentage of trainees who are among the intended beneficiary population, and the impact of livelihood of beneficiary (e.g. did the beneficiaries find jobs?), and evaluating how the centre can be improved.	Centre was running successfully but some challenges were encountered. Read section 4.0 for associated lessons learned.
Set-up 3 ICT Resource centres	The 3 ICT resource centres have been set-up and are currently training their first beneficiaries. In each location, we are incorporating the centres within existing structures at local partner (Department of Social Welfare and Development - DSWD) organisations: Tacloban, Leyte - Fifteen computers are located in a city branch of the DSWD (CSWDO). Cebu City, Cebu - Three computers are located in a vocational institute for persons with disabilities (AVRC II, DSWD).	Capacity transfer has been very successful with our partner. Our established partnership is critical in leveraging ICT as an effective and sustainable tool, which will lead to our development outcomes.
Research and document best practices in setting up ICT centres that are sustainable and that maximise improvements in livelihoods among the local population. The best practices include: Identifying the assets and needs of targeted beneficiaries. Creating local partnerships to ensure targeted program delivery. Setting up a training/resource program with the local partner that will improve beneficiaries' livelihoods. Setting up the ICT centre in a sustainable manner. Evaluating project outputs and development outcomes.	Compilation of the research is complete and report writing is in progress.	Submission planned for November 15th 2003.

Additional Resources

Read the Abstract of Project
Read the Project Proposal

Last modified 2004-06-04 06:18 PM