Linking people after the earthquake in Chile

The mobile telecentre, in its second phase, has improved employment opportunities for people who were victims of natural disasters that affected Chile in February of this year. This emergency relief project was launched by CDI Chile a week after the earthquake with the support of the Canadian Embassy.  It’s continuity throughout all 2010, has been possible thanks to the partnership with local NGOs and the financial support obtained from Global Giving and the people that donated through the Global Giving platform as well as from our partners TechSoup Global, UNESCO and other organizations that have given their support.

During the months of June and July CDI Chile reached out to various social and community organizations in the affected regions to offer them a partnership where they could provide for one month, connectivity, internet services and digital literacy training from their offices to their community. In the month of August five organizations were chosen and participated in a two day training session to be able to operate the mobile telecentre.  Each organization proposed a Telecentre operator that has received continuous on-line training from the Academia de Telecentros de Chile (www.academiachile.cl) with their e-learning platform. 

To date, the Mobile Telecentre has operated in the following organizations and locations:

Dichato: Escuela Pública de la I. Municipalidad de Tomé with 8 people trained.

Hualpén: Hogar de Adultos Mayores San José Obrero with 39 people trained.

Cabrero: Fundación Terranova with 41 people trained.

Curicó : Corporación NAIM with 35 people trained (Est.)

 From January 3 until January 31st 2011, the Mobile Telecentre will visit Chillán, the last location of this second stage of the project thanks to the organization COANIL.

Also, positive results were obtained by the beneficiaries of the Telecentre, especially those who have been trained, with respect to improving their computer skills. This can be sensed by their feedcack, as the following by Carol Crisosto Cádiz.:

“I write to tell you that I have taken the course for Computer Users, and you have created great personal satisfaction which I've also noticed in my classmates. I learned to use Excel and Word that that are basic tools and that greatly help in different areas where we can unfold. I do suggest a deeper treatment on the details of the software. Also I learned about the origins of the internet, for what and how to used it, as well as e-mail and search engines in general and how the world is moving through the internet.

I tell you that I am surprised by your gratituity, something that is not seen every day, now a days that everything must be paid for and many time one doesn’t take courses because of their high costs, making one fall behind.

One other thing is that our teacher Crisóstomo has taught us with quality and warmth.

I appreciate the initiative, I hope that these courses are given more often and that we are notified via email when they will take place.  Don’t you think that it is time to do so?

Sincerely.”

The second stage of the Mobile Telecenter will allow multiple social organizations take charge of the computers and the IT training offered to their clients and community. This CDI´s project is possible because we have been geeting contributions from Global Giving, UNESCO and TechSoup Global. Your contributions through Global Giving are allowing local non-profit organizations to: -Develop a strategy that involves NGOs and the community in the process of reconstruction in the affected areas by the earthquake, through digital inclusion. -Participate in a high-impact service, understanding the access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a process of digital and social inclusion. These objectives will be accomplished by CDI Chile and the selected organizations through the loan of 11 laptops, the training of 1 telecenter operator per location and the monitoring of the process made by each organization during the month of work in its community.Likewise, CDI Chile will contribute with the NGOs by donating them: -A stationary computer to each NGO at the end of its period with the Mobile Telecenter (after a month of operations) in order to improve its technological tools. - All the operational costs for the month, including the salary of the Telecenter operator. -A full scholarship for the Telecenter Operator training, through an e-learning platform provided by the Telecenter Academy in Chile, a program coordinated by ATACH where CDI Chile is the current president. The organizations selected are: Municipalidad de Tomé, CONAPRAN, Fundación Terranova, Fundación Coanil "Los Naranjos" Chillán and Corporación NAIM from Curicó Dichato will be the first town where the Telecenter Mobile will arrive in this second stage and it will operate from inside the local school. A launching event with the operators from the different organizations will be taking place during the end of August in the city of Concepción and by the 1st of September, the mobile telecenter will open it’s doors in the devastated town of Dichato. .

Links:

• www.atach.cl
• www.academiachile.cl