There are many NGO's that are dedicated to the actual enrichment of a society, rather than purely aid-based. As the saying goes, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
One such NGO is the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera). This organization has instituted a project to build several Information Technology "Center's Of Excellence" throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Palestinians, like many people throughout the developing world, have a strong curiosity for technology, and a desire to adopt new and exciting technologies. Internet usage is growing, and currently is estimated at 8-10%, despite restrictions to access of high speed internet lines. It is definitely a way to connect to the outside world, a world that often is off limits to the average Palestinian.
From Anera's website:
There is a strong and growing global demand for software engineers and other IT professionals. Having recognized the potential for young people to gain employment in the sector, ANERA pioneered projects in the West Bank and Gaza to provide advanced training and higher education in IT.
In the West Bank and Gaza, employment opportunities are diminishing due to restrictions on movement, closures, and increasing delays at checkpoints. By working over the Internet, IT graduates can transcend these restrictions and earn needed income. Of the more than 1,000 men and women graduated and/or certified through ANERA's IT initiative, the majority have found jobs or have moved on to further educational opportunities.
ANERA's work in IT has culminated in the establishment of “Centers of Excellence”, which offer unique training in software, systems development, and networks with international certification programs, as well as job placement and IT business incubation services. The curriculum trains students in software programming as well as web development, networking solutions, and other IT business services. Business incubation services connect students finishing their degrees or certificates with business opportunities.
On March 8, 2002 at Al Quds University in Jerusalem, the Said Khoury IT Center of Excellence opened; the first of ANERA’s IT centers. Next came the IT centers at the Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron and the American Arab University in Jenin, both inaugurated in November 2005. And finally, in 2008, ANERA inaugurated the Najjad Zeenni IT Center at Birzeit University (read the press release).
Another center stands partially completed. On November 9, 2005, ANERA and the Intel Corporation announced their agreement to build the "Intel IT Center of Excellence" at the Islamic University of Gaza in the Gaza Strip. The facility awaits opening of the Gaza borders for supplies to complete the building.
These university bases mean the IT Centers of Excellence can draw upon a wealth of intellectual assets to strengthen their capacity to serve the needs of the community and contribute to innovative business solutions.
An article posted on Anera's website shows what these projects can do for a developing society:
Wa'el, who has completed the IT training program at PPU, now teaches what he learned to new IT students.
There is a serious lack of employment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but three students of Palestinian universities have high hopes for their futures. They recently completed ANERA's information technology (IT) training programs at Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron and the Arab American University of Jenin. In November each of these universities opened a state-of-the-art center dedicated to IT training. These centers were made possible through the support of ANERA and its board members.
Ibrahim and Maher, soon graduating from the Arab-American University of Jenin, want to use their talents constructively. Interestingly, they both want to stay home after they graduate in order to help develop their communities.
"I have worked on a project, the first of its kind in Palestine, that enables mobile phones to monitor shares on the Palestinian Securities Exchange," said Ibrahim. "My partners and I hope we can have this service bought by a Palestinian mobile phone service."
Maher already is trying to give back to his community. "I helped create a program for municipalities that helps computerize city functions. The idea is to make the city's services easier and more efficient. I am now waiting for a response from the city of Qalqilya. This is a program that could be used in all Palestinian cities." He added, "I hear [about] people wanting to go and live abroad. But I really feel I should stay and help my country."
Wa'el, a bright and humble young man who graduated from the IT training program at Palestine Polytechnic Institute in Hebron (PPU) in 2004 now works for the university, both as an instructor and as an application developer at the university's Friends of Fawzi Kawash IT Center of Excellence.
"I realized that I received good training when I stood in front of a class and had to start teaching…I realized that I could in fact teach them," he said
Wa'el is optimistic about the future prospects of those students in this field, "of course, our training gives the basics, all of the foundations, and it is up to the students to make good use of this training in their future careers … All of the friends who graduated with me have found jobs or have gone on to graduate study either here or abroad."
According to the director of PPU training program, Dr. Radwan Tahboub, "the new IT training program has affected the culture of the university. The university has seen how effective and important the training programs are and have integrated similar courses and programs into their computer science curriculum. This is a program that is an influence for positive change in the university as a whole."
About the Said Khoury Information Technology Center of Excellence, from the SKITCE website:
The Said Khoury Information Technology Center of Excellence operates at local and national levels to provide high quality and effective training for students as well as practitioners in the field of information technology. It also facilitates training provided by other organizations. SKITCE has an excellent software unit that develops tailor-made software for local and regional institutions. SKITCE provides the organizational and technical infrastructures for university professors to work on IT related projects. The IT Business Incubation Service at the Center will enable people with good ideas in IT to find a place to work and develop their ideas.
Business Incubator:
The idea behind the business incubator is to provide IT talents with the necessary resources, technical and business, and empower them to create, innovate, and convert their IT-related ideas to high quality products that are interesting, marketable, and innovative. The incubator will provide selected talents with office space, software, and hardware that accommodate their needs. In addition to that, talents will receive extensive and professional training in their area of interest to help them create world-class products. Business skills development track is designed to build and enhance needed business skills in order for the talents to be able to finance their projects. The incubator will play a vital role in linking those talents with businesses that are interested in, and willing to adopt, support, and finance them. In order to successfully implement its vision, the business incubator is in the process of establishing relationships with the business sector, the community, and other essential SKITCE services provided by other units.
SKITCE is an Accredited Prometric Testing Center (APTC) with the capability of testing up to six students at the same time.
This helps students to get their training and industry certification from one place without the need to travel to any other testing center.
Cisco Systems Al-Quds University is a Regional Academy for the some of the courses at the Cisco Networking Academy Program. The Cisco Networking Academy Program (CNAP) utilizes a blended learning model, integrating face-to-face teaching with a challenging web-based curriculum, hands-on lab exercises, and Internet-based assessment.
Academy graduates are prepared for networking and IT-related careers in the public and private sectors, as well as for higher education in engineering, computer science and related fields.
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