Mission of the United Nations Development Programme in Kabul
UNDP
Press Releases
USING COMPUTERS TO BOOST AFGHANISTAN RECOVERY
Canadian expert heads to
Kabul on assignment with the United Nations Development Programme
Toronto, Canada , December 3, 2002 -- A Canadian Information
Technology expert from Toronto is gearing up to lead a high-level computer
training course next week in Afghanistan
for key government workers in Kabul.
Catherine Paquet, the Director of Technical Resources for Global Knowledge
Network (Canada) Inc., will
leave Canada on December 6th
to run a 10-day intensive training for
Information Technology technicians in charge of government networks in Afghanistan.
The course and Ms.
Paquet's assignment in Kabul are sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) in cooperation with the
Ministry
of Communications
of Afghanistan (and
Global Knowledge Canada).
After 23 years of conflict, Afghanistan's information and communications
infrastructure is largely non-existent. The Government of Afghanistan requested
UNDP to help establish information Communication Technology training centres in
major cities in the country. In addition, UNDP is providing a series of training courses
to key technicians in line ministries to
ensure they are versed in the fundamentals of local area networks, wide area
network protocols, internet connectivity and network management.
"The internet is the great
equalizer," says Ms. Paquet, who will be the lead instructor for the
course that will take place 11-19 December.
Other instructors will come from the University of Kabul.
"The country can only benefit by having the government, institutions,
universities and its general population join the
internet community. The country's recovery can be sped up by access to
information by its business leaders, engineers, scientists, medical staff,
teachers and students," says Ms. Paquet.
UNDP helps countries draw on expertise and
best practices from around the world to expand public access to ICT and harness
it for development. "Our aim is to
build computer skills in Afghanistan
in order to
support the public and private sectors
in the development process," says Ercan Murat, UNDP Country
Director in Afghanistan.
"We plan to support
training of more than 2,500 Afghans, both men and women. Afghanistan has been left behind in the internet revolution.
We want to work with
the government to make up
for lost time," says Mr. Murat.
In addition to UNDP-sponsored courses offered
in government ministries, five IT training centres
will be set up: three in Kabul, one in Mazar-e-Sharif, and one in Kandahar. UNDP also
helped to establish a
CISCO
Networking Academy
has been established at the University
of Kabul that offers an IT
degree programme in the Faculty of Science.
=====================================================
Future
of Internet Technology in Afghanistan
Gets Boost
October
12, Kabul -- The Ministry of Communications
and the United Nations Development Programme signed this week a Memorandum of
Understanding for mutual cooperation and collaboration on Information and Communication
Technology projects. …
“Information
and communications technology is an increasingly powerful tool for delivery of
basic services and strengthening local development opportunities,” says Mr. Murat. “Without innovative ICT policies, many here in Afghanistan
will be left further and further behind.”
Some other
IT projects in the works include the creation of five ICT training centers
in Afghanistan, three in
Kabul, one in Mazar-e-Sharif,
and one in Kandahar. IT and computer training will target
Afghan civil servants, women and the population at large. The aim will
be to empower Afghans with the computer skills necessary to eventually play a
greater role in projects started by donor organizations. It will also
provide skills needed to support the government and private sectors. More
than 2,500 Afghans are expected to take part in the initial training. …
In another
initiative, UNDP, in partnership with Cisco Systems and the University of
Kabul recently opened a Cisco Networking Academy
in Afghanistan.
It offers a two-year IT degree for both men and women in the Faculty of
Science. …
Catherine Paquet is now a principal with netrisec, www.netrisec.com . Netrisec
specializes in Network Security Governance, Advocacy and ROI. You can find more about netrisec
at www.netrisec.com . Catherine’s most recent Cisco Press /
Pearson book is titled: The
business case for Network Security: Advocacy, Governance and ROI.
A summary of the book can be found at www.netrisec.com .