IICD supported project: National ICT Strategy for the Education Sector

Countries: Bolivia [BO]
Sectors: education

Summary

Within the Ministry of Education of Bolivia, the ICT for education policy is a key pillar, next to a national alphabetisation policy. IICD has been assisting the Ministry (2003-2005) to formulate a national ICT policy and strategy. In 2006 the Irish organisation GESCI assisted to finalise the formulation and to implement the national ICT for education policy for primary education. Key activities are the provision of digital educational content and services through the website www.EducaBolivia.bo and the setup of 1,000 educational telecentres in primary and secondary schools. Since 2007, IICD is providing advice in selected areas including capacity development, connectivity, sustainability of telecentres, and monitoring and evaluation.

Update

Updated: 2008-02-26

• The Ministry has agreed to integrate schools assisted by project partners of IICD in the programme. This implies that they can benefit from additional access to computer classrooms and the Internet: something most of the participating schools do not have yet because of high costs. . As such, the IICD supported projects can strongly leverage.
• Project partners, in collaboration with a private training company have won a public bidding for training of teachers and started training courses as part of the programme in two departments in Bolivia. This will assist in replicating lessons learned from IICD-supported and other projects at national scale. 
• IICD has trained the staff of the ICT programme within Ministry of Education to enhance the technical setup and sustainability of educational telecentres and to improve content development. 
• IICD has started with the assistance in monitoring and evaluation of educational telecentres implemented by the Ministry. So far IICD has evaluated the first training component of the programme.  

Introduction

The Government of Bolivia recognizes the need to strengthen the national educational system. It intends to make the administration transparent and efficient, and recognizes that with the implementation of ICT, the needs of teachers, students and their families can be met. ICTs are efficient tools to overcome some of the obstacles of the development of the country and can fortify communities and their cultures.

Objectives

The national ICT policy for education contributes to the development of Bolivian communities by providing access to ICTs, The policy focusses on assisting primary and secondary education. Key activities are:

• The provision of digital educational content through the education website www.educabolivia.bo for Bolivian teachers, students and their families and communities. This virtual space offers information, content and educational services. Visitors can access educational resources, interact to exchange (intercultural) experiences, and improve the process of teaching-learning.
• Enhanced access to ICT by means of setting up of 1,000 telecentres in primary and secondary schools throughout the country. These schools are affiliated to IICD supported projects. Around 120 schools have received a computer laboratory.  

Development Impacts

This policy addresses access to educational resources and services, and the quality of primary and secondary education. ICT is expected to increase access to online education materials, and to promote the development of local content. The Government sees in the programme a chance to combine advanced ICTs with recuperating local indigenous knowledge. Furthermore, the programme is to enhance capacities of teachers and prepare students for their professional future.

Teachers and students of 1,000 primary and secondary schools are the main focus of the programme. Parents and the wider community are also to benefit from ICT facilities outside school hours.Actual outputs and impact of the programme will be assessed by the IICD monitoring and evaluation approach, which started in 2007.

Budget

The total programme has a budget of US$ 64 million for three years and is funded through a joint funding by the Governments of Bolivia, the Netherlands (DGIS), Sweden (SIDA) and Denmark (Danida) as well as by IICD’s agreements with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), GeSCI and the Spanish Agency for International Development (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional - AECI).

Project Owner :

Ministry of Education and Culture

Project Partners : The Netherlands Embassy to Bolivia, SIDA, Danida, GeSCI, IDRC and AECI.