Program to bridge IT gap wins grant

Program to bridge IT gap wins grant

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Bandung-based LPM Indonesia (Sutera Foundation), has recently
been named one of 15 winners of this year's Samsung DigitAll Hope
awards, and has be awarded a grant of about US$57,000.

The awards, which offer a total of $600,000 in grants, is
Samsung Electronics' single largest social program outside of
Korea, and is targeted at young people in Samsung's eight Asia-
Pacific markets -- Australia, India, Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

The Sutera Foundation's proposal for a Community Information
Technology Center for Youth (CommIT for Youth) was chosen based
on its relevance to social and technological issues currently
prevalent in Indonesia.

"The program is not only efficient and educational, but also
involves a substantial number of young people," the Indonesian
judge on the awards committee, House of Representatives' member
Marwah Daud, said in a press conference last Tuesday.

The program involves building Community Information Technology
Centers for Youth (CITCY) in Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya to
provide IT awareness training and allow low-cost or free access
to a wide variety of computer technologies.

"Hopefully, this will create a society that is aware of
information technology and its uses," LPM Indonesia's executive
director I. Teja Harjaya said, explaining that the organization
will work together with other human development organizations as
well as schools.

Creating an awareness of IT was just one part of CommIT for
Youth's three goals in bridging the IT gap, Teja said, adding
that the questions of knowledge and content also played a part.

To address the question of knowledge, the organization
recognized the individual's need for adequate training so as to
attain the relevant skills to operate in the information society.

Meanwhile, content would be addressed by creating a youth
portal to accommodate the aspirations of young people, allow them
to express themselves and promote youth creativity, Teja said.

"In order to enhance the information technology experience,
individuals must first be interested in what they are doing -
what they can find on the Internet and in the computer programs
thus play an important part in engaging their interest," he said.

Other winners of Samsung DigitAll Hope awards are the Fitzroy
Learning Network and The Smith Family from Australia, Development
Alternatives and National Centre for Promotion of Employment for
Disabled People from India, and the Farmers' Organization Area C-
2 Kerpan and Federation of Family Planning Associations from
Malaysia.

Also winning this year's awards are the Salesians of St John
Bosco from the Philippines, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and YMCA from
Singapore, Bangkok College of Nursing, Children's News Agency,
and Internet for School & Community Foundation Organizations from
Thailand, and Health for Women and Children and the Sao Mai
Computer Centre for the Blind from Vietnam.