CAPTIC Training Centre: Global Telecentre Map - Bolivia

Through project partner Enbolivia, CAPTIC provides advanced website development and training services. Clients are found among large companies in Bolivia, development cooperation and nong-governmental organisations (NGOs). Recently, also clients in the Netherlands made use of its services.

Enbolivia provides in custom-made Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training addapted to the reality of NGOs, grass-root organisations, the government and small and medium scale enterprises. Taken into account the needs of the target group and the existing services offered, the project must offer a distinctive approach to training.

Training courses and seminars are provided at different levels in the area of information management, basic office applications and  database development and management. Other courses and seminars that Enbolivia provides are website development and management networking, E-education, E-commerce and Web2.0.

Applying the methodology developed in collaboration with IICD, the capacity development courses are fully customised to the needs of the trainee and the organisation and focus on the direct application to the working environment. This produces, unlike many of the ongoing training programmes in Bolivia, continuity and consistency in capacity development in the area of ICT.

enBolivia.com implements various telecentre map projects. The map for Bolivia has been redesigned and its search function improved. This map is now fully functional. The map for Ecuador has also been completed. Data collection has been coordinated by the Infodesarrollo network.

To allow for sustainable ICT for Development (ICT4D) projects and programmes in Bolivia it is essential to build technical and managerial capacities of civil society and government agencies.

Currently, initiatives in the area of capacity development taken by academics, government, non-governmental and private entities are highly fragmented. This results in uncoordinated and unsatisfactory results.

Some of the large companies and international institutions receive training from headquarters. The rest of the organisations are in need of training, but this activity is often not seen as an obligation of the organisation, or the type of training provided is not directly applicable to actual requirements of the trainees. Therefore, a huge gap in applied capacity development for the working force exists.

Therefore, IICD has developed a specific training methodology focusing on on-the-job and live-long training courses. In these training courses, IICD partner organisations and other interested parties are trained in ICT applications directly applicable to the daily work environment.

Read more about IICD's Bolivia Country Programme.

In 2008, Enbolivia provided a training programme 10 courses to 107 staff of the national ICT education programme and other staff of the Ministry of Education. The programme is part of the leveraging programme and agreement between the Ministry of Education and IICD. The training programmes included:

• Office basic and advanced
• Database development and maintenance basic and advanced (Access, MySQL)
• E-education platforms (Moodle)
• Multimedia (Photo shop)
• Project management platforms (MS project)

enbolivia.com implements various telecentre map projects using an application built around Google Earth. The map for Bolivia has been redesigned and its search function improved. This map is now fully functional. Maintenance and regular updating of data is an issue, however. The map for Ecuador has also been completed. Data collection has been coordinated by the Infodesarrollo network.

Work on the development of a map holding points of presence of IICD projects has also been completed, though data checking and inclusion of additional points is still ongoing. Search functionality is based on a joint database holding data of all IICD-supported points of presence of projects with a telecentre function in these countries.

The development of a telecentre map for all 9 CP countries has been completed. This map has been integrated into the IICD web site. Still to be done is the integration of the global map into the web sites of the NINs. Liaising with the different CP IN networks occurs through IICD IN Officers.

The training department CapTiC of Enbolivia.com provides:

• Customized and on-the-job ICT training courses at basic and advanced levels in propriety and open source applications
• Awareness raising seminars on latest developments in ICT including software applications and connectivity solutions

• Since 2001, the 800 project partners participating in the IICD-supported programmes have indicated that the capacity development programme in Bolivia has directly contributed to establish a knowledgeable and competent group of project team staff able to initiate and sustain effective use of ICT for development purposes by civil society and government organisations. Many of the trained staff indicates that they are now capable of formulating and implementing ICT activities as part of their institutional development projects and programmes
• In 2008, the latest group of 107 civil servants of the Ministry of Education have indicated high levels of satisfaction (98%) with the training services provided, with a high quality of the trainers and quality of services. Areas to improve are found still in the training materials

Read more about IICD's approach towards Education.

• Very few commercial providers of ICT training provide customized training adapted to the needs of development-oriented organisations
• Most commercial training institutions still offer of-the-shelf training sessions
• It is key to know sufficiently about the organisation to be trained to provide capacities valuable to the daily work practise
• It is essential to undertake a good needs assessment among all participants to develop a good curriculum and training approach
• It is important to be highly flexible in terms of planning and content because decision makers often do not set a high priority to capacity development activities

In the period 2001-2008, Enbolivia has provided training to over 800 persons of IICD supported projects in Bolivia including NGOs, grass root organisations and government agencies:

• Grass-root: Asociación de Organizaciones Productoras Ecológicas de Bolivia (AOPEB), Comité Integrador de Organizaciones Económicas Campesinas de Bolivia (CIOEC), Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia (CIDOB)
• Non-governmental organisations: Apoyo para el campesino-Indígenas del Oriente Boliviano (APCOB), Fundación Acción Cultural Loyola (oficina Chuquisaca) (ACLO), Fundación AYNI Bolivia-Nederland, Casa de la Mujer, Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios (CEBEM), Centro de Promoción Agropecuaria Campesina (CEPAC), Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado (CIPCA), Instituto de Capacitación del Oriente (ICO)
• Government agencies:  Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Centro de Promoción Bolivia (CEPROBOL)