Internet and Digital Markets to Empower Women in Haiti
LACNIC transforms its Ayitic project with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to promote new technical skills and digital jobs in Haiti
LACNIC announces the launch of "Ayitic Goes Global", a training and entrepreneurship initiative that seeks to drive digital development in Haiti.
The project represents an expansion of the activities LACNIC has been leading in the Caribbean country since 2013. In this new phase, Ayitic is going global, adding important innovations such as technical courses delivered via an e-learning platform, training for women in digital data management, and efforts aimed at inserting participants in digital employment markets both in Haiti and abroad. The project also anticipates the creation of an Information Technology cluster in Haiti called the ICT Cluster.
These new proposals will add to the training activities for information and communication technology professionals implemented in previous editions of the project. Since 2013, Ayitic has strengthened the technical skills of more than 300 Haitian ICT students and professionals.
To materialize this new approach, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a public corporation created by the Canadian government to help communities in the developing world find solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems, has joined the project.
"The goal of these transformations is that, in addition to promoting Internet development at the local level, the initiative will help promote the digital services market, creating new job opportunities in both local and international markets, in the latter case through the outsourcing of services," noted Carolina Caeiro, Cooperation Project Coordinator at LACNIC.
Ecole Supérieure d'Infotronique d'Haïti will be the local organization responsible for the project, with the support of local consultants Max Larson Henry, Christelle Valval, Sopohonie Milande Joseph and Sonide Simon. Other organizations participating in the initiative include the Caribbean Open Institute of the University of West Indies (Jamaica), who will be responsible for developing the courses related to data, and consultants 3x3 Design and Slasroots, who will respectively conduct preliminary market studies and an analysis of the pedagogical strategies to be used for the courses.
Women and digital markets. One of the highlights of 2017 will be the new training workshops aimed at building digital capacity that will be offered to women aged 18-25. These courses will be on data processing and will seek to develop digital information management skills and thus generate a culture of scientific evidence.
The new platform also plans to work on inserting the women who participate in the courses into the labor market, seeking employment opportunities both in Haiti and abroad. In this sense, the project will conduct a campaign among various companies in the region interested in outsourcing their data management services and do it from Haiti.
ICT Cluster.
Finally, the new proposal will be complemented by the ICT Cluster led by Max Larson Henry of Transversal, which is expected to boost Haiti's Internet infrastructure. The Cluster will seek to articulate actions among the local technical community to strengthen the Internet ecosystem. In addition to networking activities, it will also attempt to promote specific initiatives that impact on the security and stability of the Internet at a local level.