Title: Deconstructing ICT Skills and Employability
Authors: Maria Garrido, Akhtar Badshah
Pages: 5 pp.
ISSN: 1544-7529
Source: Information Technologies & International Development, Volume 5, Number 2, Summer 2009, iii–vii
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Date (published): 10/07/2009
Date (accessed): 13/11/2009
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Economic empowerment for marginalized people is one of the core interests driving ICTD practice and scholarship. Many non-governmental organizations state that improving the economic livelihood of their communities is one of their most important missions. Many training programs, from those which are donor- and public-supported to those which are privately operated, have been built with the express purpose of providing people who come into the centers with the skills they need to be hired by a local company, obtain a better-paying job, or start a microenterprise. While numerous studies have documented the labor markets for high-end ICT skills (programmers and other IT specialists), surprisingly little research has been conducted on basic ICT skills—those skills needed to perform the common tasks associated with almost any job—especially among underserved communities in developing countries. It is for this reason that we organized this special issue, to capture and encourage research in this area.

This topic is now all the more poignantly relevant due to the current global economic crisis. Around the world, people are re-skilling and up-skilling themselves in the hopes of becoming more competitive in the labor market. In the United States, for example, the older workforce, many of whom were retired and must now return to work, cite information technology as the number one skill where they require training (AARP, 2007). This is in an environment where more than half of today’s jobs require the use of a computer (Workforce Development Council of Seattle—King County, 2007). Whether it is for an underserved member of a developed or a developing country, how will such skills translate into employment opportunities? What are the most effective ways for people to learn and apply ICT skills across diverse population types and socioeconomic contexts? Are educational institutions, NGOs, and other organizations applying effective strategies? What is the role of national policy?