HP opens up IT opportunities for students in Cambodia

Since 1958, Enfants du Mékong (EDM) has been helping disadvantaged children in South-East Asian countries, particularly Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. Currently supporting 15,000 of the region's poorest children, EDM specialises in providing access to education services and creating development and sponsorship programs for future development.

So when the organisation saw that Cambodia suffered from a serious shortage of professionals in the IT sector - an industry in which it had little experience - EDM realised it needed some help from the experts.

EDM received invaluable support and investment from the Accenture Foundation, which had previously provided assistance for the EDM boarding homes, delivering basic IT courses.

Together with HP, along with software and training support from industry partners, EDM is seeking to not only fill the personnel gap in the IT industry, but give a large number of disadvantaged young people the opportunity of a lifetime.

The birth of the Centre for Information Systems Training (CIST) program came about after EDM looked at IT training programs already in operation. They found that the majority of courses only accepted A level students, relied too heavily on theory, had no relationship with businesses and therefore provided little if any practical experience, were not accessible to poor students and generally produced graduates with different levels of competency.

In a survey of local IT companies, EDM also found that there was a strong demand for computer professionals with fluent English, practical work experience, and an ability to communicate confidently. The finding of the survey was that very few graduates had these basic skills.

EDM realised very quickly that there was a real need to create a training program that fulfilled the requirements of the industry while opening up opportunities for students with less ability and who had not previously had the chance to access such courses.

Essentially it was decided that the CIST program would:

• provide complete professional IT training, including Microsoft worldwide certification;
• give students a qualification recognised by the Cambodian government; and
• train 250 students every year.

It was also decided that students would be sourced from three main NGO partners who work with children from underprivileged backgrounds, such as: street children, AIDS orphans, children affected by poverty, trafficked children from rural areas and children from the 'garbage dump' families. The NGO partners would undertake the rehabilitation process to provide basic literacy, education and life skills to prepare the students for the CIST program.

A local advisory board was quickly established to help guide CIST, including representatives from the National InfoComm Development Agency (NIDA), IT associations, partner social enterprises and educational institutions. Their role was defined as providing assistance with accreditation and recognition of the work of CIST, increasing networks within the Cambodian community and providing input into the curriculum.

Given their profile in Asia Pacific and commitment to many industry and community development programs, HP was chosen to be a partner of CIST and an extended member of the advisory board. HP's relationship with such a prestigious board provides many opportunities to develop key relationships and new networks with important local stakeholders and decision makers.

Providing much needed hardware equipment, HP's role has been crucial to the establishment of the program. Under the agreement, HP has delivered 26 desktop computers, two servers, two switches and a printer to the centre. A team of HP volunteers also assisted in the installation and set up of the equipment.

HP's involvement in CIST also gives the program a higher profile with government and industry groups - something which will be important for sponsorship in coming years. The CIST committee's decision to partner only with recognised, high-end IT companies means that the program is given a level of professionalism and quality, that it otherwise may not have had.

In the project's first year, the curriculum has been developed, drawing on expertise from educational partners, the Institute of Technology Cambodia (ITC) and the graduate school of Computer Science, SUPINFO. The Centre's facility in Phnom Penh has also been built and set up.

Year two will see capacity at the Centre increase considerably and the development of e-learning programs. The Centre is expected to be at full capacity by the end of year three, with e-learning programs implemented in other countries and online resources expanded.

Already the CIST program has produced results, with the first 25 students having started their training in October 2005, taking a mix of classes, including intensive English, general knowledge, computer architecture, maintenance and networking, Internet basics, and systems administration. Importantly, the first students included an evenly weighted mix of 12 girls and 13 boys (nine from Phnom Penh and 16 from provinces) - something which is particularly gratifying given the traditional under-representation of females in IT training in Asia.

So far the reaction has been very positive, from students, board members and industry alike.

Vanna, 20 years old, from Sisophon was pleased to be one of the first CIST students. 'I am very happy because I want to become a computer scientist,' he said.
'The teachers are cool!' said Chanthou, a 19-year-old student from Takeo. 'CIST is small because it is new. Yet, as it is small, you make new friends much faster.'

It is positive results such as these that make a program like CIST so worthwhile, and drives HP to continue playing a key role in the development of Cambodia's IT professionals of tomorrow.