$1.5 million public-private partnership

 
(Ottawa/Beirut)  - February 25, 2009 – Ottawa-based NGO, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), announced the launch of its Income Generation Through Information and Communication Technology for Development project in partnership with YMCA-Lebanon at a reception hosted in Beirut by Canada’s Ambassador, Martial Pagé.

Working with unemployed people in rural communities, DOT will train individuals in entrepreneurship, work with them to identify business opportunities and help them to create a business plan and a business.

“We train people to become computer literate in a context that is meaningful to their day to day lives so they can create and earn a livelihood,” says Janet Longmore, CEO of DOT.  The double win is that DOT trains young university graduates to become the trainers in their community.

“We recruit university and college graduates – young women and men who are smart and savvy and plugged into the community and its culture - many of whom can’t find jobs and would otherwise leave Lebanon to find employment elsewhere, and we train them to become the trainers,” explains Longmore, “The system gives these young leaders employment at home and in turn helps their communities create new jobs and businesses.”

DOT’s Lebanon project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is welcomed at every level in Lebanon.

“This project comes at the right time and at the right scale for Lebanon,” President Michel Suleiman told DOT. “We expect to feel the impact of the global financial crisis in the second half of 2009 and our small businesses and youth need to be prepared to respond.”

As the project expands, the focus will shift to helping small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to understand and fully utilize the power of computer technology. 

“We’ll work with SME’s to show them how to take full advantage of information technology in marketing, planning and financial management,” said Longmore.

The initiative builds upon the success of a DOT-YMCA Lebanon community-based project conducted in 2003-04 in the tourism sector.

“SMEs need to adapt to change and learn new management skills and technology,” said Fuad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon at a meeting with DOT last week.

 “This project is important because it builds the business and technology skills of people in deprived communities and helps them to stay in their communities and contribute to local economic growth,” said Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri.

"It brings Lebanese people and technology together to build on Lebanon's fundamental assets - a highly educated population and entrepreneurial spirit", said Ghassan Sayyah, CEO of YMCA Lebanon. "Furthermore, the program is an example of the programs that the Lebanese government has emphasized as key to Lebanon’s economic growth."

The project will also leverage a new initiative with support from the Cisco Foundation and the Partnership for Lebanon, DOT and the YMCA.  The Connected Communities and Business Initiative (CCBI) will develop business centres that will support the community by offering services related to the use of technology and the development of small businesses. The centres will provide access to technology and business oriented training - services that do not exist in non-urban centres.

Together the two initiatives highlight the importance of public-private partnerships and the $1.5 million in funding is expected to have a direct impact on thousands of community members in Lebanon.  The innovative approach brings together youth, technology, entrepreneurship and communities to create sustainable economic growth.
 

For more information, contact:

About CIDA
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is Canada’s lead agency for development assistance. It has a mandate to support sustainable development in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world.  Visit CIDA at www.acdi-cida.gc.ca.

About Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT)
A leading edge Canadian NGO, Digital Opportunity Trust focuses on creating educational, economic and entrepreneurial opportunity through the effective use of technology for communities and people – with a particular focus on youth and women. Over the past five years, DOT has achieved proof-of-concept in its ICT4D locally driven methodology and has become recognized as an international best practice example.  DOT has directly impacted 75,000 lives through micro-entrepreneurial development, basic technology education and life skills, and trained over 750 young leaders worldwide.

About YMCA of Lebanon
The YMCA Lebanon has been working for over 30 years in development activities aimed at ensuring sustainable growth of livelihoods in Lebanon.  The YMCA Lebanon is committed to serving the Lebanese equally, on a non-partisan basis. It has transitioned from an organization that initially focused on serving the needs of youth to a highly successful regional and national development NGO. Today, the YMCA Lebanon has a wide variety of programs in place that address a variety of developmental community needs ranging from medical aid to vocational training to economic development.  Visit YMCA Lebanon at www.ymca-leb.org.lb

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections-whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used
to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible-providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University.  Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 67,647 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies. (www.cisco.com) 

About Partnership for Lebanon (PFL)

In September 2006, five US corporations to come together to assist the reconstruction efforts in Lebanon and to help the people of Lebanon find the path to long-term stability and economic growth. The five companies are Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Occidental Petroleum, and Ghafari Construction and their joint three year commitment is called the Partnership for Lebanon (PFL) initiative. The PFL started fifteen ambitious projects in the areas of crisis relief and response; education, professional development and internships; private sector revival; ICT infrastructure; and connected government and communities.