In December 2023, the « Secrétariat National pour le Renforcement des Capacités » (SENAREC), the DTC in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officially launched its Digital Ambassadors’ programme under the name of “Congolais Ambassadeurs du Digital” (CONADIG). As the national capacity development hub in DRC, and strongly endorsed by the Ministry of Planning, SENAREC recognizes the need to train young digital ambassadors who will become key actors in raising awareness on the importance of digital tools sharing knowledge and cascading training interventions at the community level. In particular, the DTC intends to leverage the CONADIG platform as the main implementation channel of the DTC Initiative to scale basic and intermediate digital skills training nationwide.

With the support of ITU and Norad, as part the ITU Project “Boosting Digital Skills through Digital Transformation Centres”, SENAREC kick-started the implementation of CONADIG with a series of train-the-trainer activities nationwide. Through this training, over 70 trainers will be trained and certified across SENAREC’s network of Centres of Excellence and equipped with the skills and tools necessary to deliver courses from the Cisco Networking Academy and Skills for All platforms, as well as courses from the HP-LIFE curriculum. These activities represent the first step of SENAREC in building a network of local, motivated, and committed instructors and facilitators capable of providing training to rural and urban populations, and will cascade digital knowledge and skills within their respective communities. As of April 2024, the first phase of the programme was concluded in the Kinshasa province, and will be extended to Bukavu, Mbuji Mayi and Lubumbashi until July 2024.

From 22 January to 2 February 2024, the DTC in the Dominican Republic “Centros Technologicos Comunitarios” (CTC) conducted a train-the-trainer activity on the Cisco and HP-LIFE programmes. The training was supported by ITU and Norad through the ITU Project “Boosting Digital Skills through Digital Transformation Centres”: It aimed to strengthen the capacities of CTC instructors in delivering quality basic digital skills for underserved and rural communities and ensuring an effective pedagogical approach. In total, 50 facilitators (25 female) were selected by CTC area supervisors across the country, on the basis that they have the capacity and bandwidth to scale and cascade the knowledge and skills acquired, as well as the motivation to empower themselves and their communities. The training was delivered in a hybrid modality combining classroom and self-paced learning (70-30 ratio) and provided an opportunity for participants to focus on acquiring the skills to use digital tools and teaching techniques, as well as learn about best practices to deliver Cisco and HP-LIFE courses such as “Introduction to Data Science” and “Entrepreneurship”.

Following this training, DTC – Dominican Republic will establish virtual support platforms and online learning communities to enable facilitators to maintain contact and share their experiences and resources. Refresher sessions and networking opportunities will also be organised on a regular basis to keep facilitators up to date with the latest trends, advancements and changes in the Cisco and HP LIFE platforms. Ensuring effective monitoring and evaluation will also be crucial for CTC to measure progress and seek continued feedback as they train citizens in the communities.

In an effort to expand the outreach of the “Introduction to Computer Basics for the Visually Impaired” (ICBVI) training programme nationwide, the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) conducted a second train-the-trainer activity for 49 Community ICT Center (CIC) managers in Kyebi, in January 2024. The training was held in partnership with Tech Era, a local Ghanaian non-profit organization that is skilled in providing digital skills training to persons with disabilities. It comes as a follow-up to the first training of trainers held in Accra in November 2023 with the support of ITU and Norad, which served as a kick-off for the implementation of the ICBVI programme in Ghana.

Under the ITU DTC Project, DTC-Ghana conducted a citizens training to cascade the programme across the country from 18 March to 9 April 2024. More than 474 (221 female) visually impaired individuals (aged 12 to 45) from communities were selected from the 13 regions where GIFEC’s CICs are based and benefited from an intensive three-week programme to learn about computer fundamentals and assistive technologies. Additionally, the training focused on empowering participants to use digital tools to perform various daily tasks independently and communicate effectively through e-mail, instant messaging, and social media platforms. An additional 120 visually impaired citizens will be trained in June as part of the final cohort of beneficiaries.

With the support of ITU and Cisco, l’Ecole Multinationale Supérieure des Postes (EMSP) d’Abidjan organised a train-the-trainer programme on basic and intermediate digital skills as part of its Young Digital Ambassadors initiative (Jeunes Ambassadeurs du Numérique – JEAN). The training was conducted across the five localities of Azaguié (South), Korhogo (North), Adzopé (South-East), Abengourou (East) and Daloa (South-Westt) between 12 June and 20 October 2023, and brought together 82 young trainees, including 13 women.

These activities were conducted in a face-to-face modality and consisted of a first training phase aiming to assess the digital skills proficiency of participants within the designated localities, as well as their motivation to continue to engage and contribute to building the digital capacities of citizens, as Digital Ambassadors. Courses were delivered through the Cisco Skills for All platform and focused on Operating Systems Basics. Following the first phase, participants completed 65 hours of self-paced learning between 30 October and 1 December (phase 2), after which they will attend the third and final phase of the programme, to be held subsequently in December 2023. 

From 11 to 22 September 2023, BPPTIK conducted a training of trainers on basic digital skills programmes of the Cisco Networking Academy, with support from ITU and Cisco. The training was held virtually on the first week and face-to-face on the second week, at BPPTIK training centre in Jakarta. In total, 60 trainers, including 24 women, attended the training and were divided into three groups to maximize learner-instructor interaction over the course of the 10-day programme. Participants were introduced to the Cisco Networking Academy system and were trained on how to deliver effective face-to-face and online digital skills training to citizens, considering the connectivity and device limitation of users, particularly those living in remote areas.

A Joint Declaration on strengthened collaboration in the field of capacity and digital skills development between Indosat (PT Indosat TBK) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was signed on 13 September 2023 by Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau and Mr Vikram Sinha, President Director and CEO, PT Indosat TBK. 

This collaboration aims to strengthen digital literacy and skills of citizens in underserved communities, and promote digital inclusion in Indonesia, with particular focus on the Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) Initiative, which supports countries to develop the capacities and digital skills of their citizens.  

The Declaration builds on the takeaways of the ITU-Cisco DTC Workshop for Telecommunication companies, during which participants discussed joint projects and support modalities to effectively engage telecommunication companies in the work of the Digital Transformation Centres and the overall Initiative.  

The signing ceremony took place during the ITU Regional Development Forum for Asia and the Pacific, held in Bangkok from 13 to 15 September 2023.  

From 19-21 July 2023, the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) of the Philippines, with support from ITU and Cisco, conducted a training-the-trainer course on basic digital skills, in General Santos City, Philippines. The activity brought together 70 designated trainers who support the DTC Initiative at the regional level and was delivered by Cisco-certified instructors. Participants were trained on how to manage and navigate the Cisco Networking Academy and deliver effective online and offline digital skills training.