YOUTH AND ICT IN LATIN AMERICA

The Inter-American Development Bank's Youth Development and Outreach Program, CDI Brazil, Microsoft Corporation, and StarMedia Foundation launched in December 2000 the initiative CDI Americas, with the objective to offer information technology skills to millions of underprivileged youth in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Committee for Democratization of Information Technology Americas (CDI Americas) seeks to reproduce in the rest of the region a successful model that allowed CDI Brazil to create over 190 information technology and citizenship schools in the Brazilian shantytowns in the last five years.

CDI Americas is already active in Brazil and Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico, and its immediate goal is to create at least 100 new information technology and citizenship schools in the four countries during 2001 to reach over 30,000 young people per year.

CDI Americas' goal is to raise awareness among potential new strategic partners in order to target efforts to "web-enable" youth in every town and every school in the region and give them access to the information age.

CDI Brazil Model

The CDI Brazil model was created in 1994 by the Brazilian entrepreneur Rodrigo Baggio, has already attained several achievements in the low-income communities (favelas) in which it has been operating, and has already graduated more than 60,000 students from 190 schools throughout Brazil.

CDI Brazil pattern consists in providing the initial donations to establish schools that will be self-sustained and self-administered from day one. The schools teach basic computer skills, primary Internet knowledge, and civic responsibility in 3-months intensive modules. Computers have proved to attract youth that attended school and later dropped out, youth that never attended school or youth previously engaged in illicit behavior. In any of these cases computers seem to keep students in school to finish their programs of study. The CDI curriculum teaches common computer programs and Internet training, such as MS, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and HTML. In addition, students are instructed in computer and hardware maintenance and civic education, which include human rights advocacy, non-violence training, health, and environmental responsibility to improve their educational and job potential. The "civic responsibility" training is tailored to the oftentimes harsh and challenging realities of each individual community, and is integrated to the ICT curriculum. This approach, which is complemented by extensive job training and an internship program in high-tech related fields, holds a powerful multiplying effect in improving the lives the students and their communities. An interesting example is a group of CDI students from the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro who first interned with StarMedia Brazil and later went on to secure positions teaching technology and Internet skills to youth with Globo.com and elsewhere. More private sector partners may offer more internships and employment opportunities.

CDI in Uruguay and Other Countries

The CDI Americas model has been successfully applied in Uruguay under the leadership of StarMedia chairman and CEO, the entrepreneur Fernando Espuelas. Six schools have been opened in Uruguay, reaching some of the most needy youth in and around Montevideo, and training has been completed for over 30 instructors throughout Uruguay. Uruguay declared this initiative of national interest and Espuelas underscored that the project will create new interesting educational and economic opportunities. The experience will soon be replicated in Colombia and Mexico. By 2001, twenty schools will be inaugurated in the Colombian cities of Bogotá, Barranquilla, Medellín and Manizales. In Mexico, operations are already underway to identify communities and open schools in Monterrey and Mexico City. Contacts have been made with members of Mexican public and private sectors, and with community organizations.

CDI Americas and IDB Projects

Under the CDI Americas initiative, the Inter-American Development Bank has committed itself to promote partnerships with international, national and local public and private organizations according to the characteristics and specific needs of the countries. The Bank and the IDB Group's Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) are considering a series of projects to strengthen CDI Brazil and to extend the model to the rest of Latin America. There are three additional IDB projects in preparation that relate or could potentially contribute to the expansion of CDI Americas:

Rio Digital. The MIF is developing a project with CDI Brazil, the Government of Rio, and other local non-government organizations to scale up the CDI model in Rio. The pilot program aims to upgrade twelve of the existing centers and convert them into "model schools". Other project components include new product development, establishing new courses, technology upgrade, creating franchising packages to systematize growth and quality, and partnership development with the private sector. The total cost of the project is approximately $1.5 million, with a potential MIF contribution of $900,000 being studied by the MIF's donor committee.

Strengthening CDI Brazil. An IDB regional technical cooperation to strengthen CDI Brazil's institutional capacity and to design a strategy to expand the model to other countries in Latin America. The project is also expected to finance the creation of at least ten new schools in each of four new countries and/or to strengthen already established schools in Colombia and Uruguay.

Regional Program to Promote Youth Entrepreneurship. The IDB and the MIF are designing a program to promote youth entrepreneurship and increase employment among young adults through innovative programs together with the International Youth Foundation. The program will co-finance projects designed to foster business skills and promote enterprise development throughout the region with special emphasis on information technology. It will specifically foster the integration of information technology in new business ventures. The program, at an estimated cost of $25 million to be covered by diverse sponsors, is expected to be presented to the MIF's donor committee for approval early next year.

You may also visit CDI America's core partners websites