Title: Technology for employability in Latin America: Research with at‐risk youth & people with disabilities
Authors: Joyojeet Pal, Jay Freistadt, Michele Frix, and Phil Neff
Pages: 94 pp.
Publisher: Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington
Date (published): 06/11/2009
Date (accessed): 20/11/2009
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Since the early 1990s, there has been an increasing interest in technology training centers to build employability options of socially excluded groups in Latin America. This study examines the recent investment into computer centers providing basic technology training for people with disabilities and at‐risk youth. Using primary research in five countries: Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela, we discuss the ways in which technology training impacts the employability concerns of two populations with diverse needs and histories of social and economic exclusion from formal labor markets. The goal of this report is to provide scholars and policy‐makers an expansive survey of the landscape of issues around technology employability for socially excluded populations. Our findings are broadly divided into three segments. We first examine the environmental factors that impact such projects including the aspirational environment and the discourse of technology. We then discuss the short‐term impacts of these programs including the creation of pathways to employment, community‐building, as well as impacts on selfesteem and stigmatization and the potential of mismatched employment expectations from access to these programs. We finally turn to factors that influence the success of such programs including cost, certification, and accessible technology.

Title: An ICT Skills Cascade: Government-Mandated Open Source Policy as a Potential Driver for ICT Skills Transfer
Authors: Andrea Tapia, Edgar Maldonado
Pages: 21 pp.
ISSN: 1544-7529
Source: Information Technologies & International Development, Volume 5, Number 2, Summer 2009, 31–51
Publisher: USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Date (published): 10/07/2009
Date (accessed): 07/11/2009
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The purpose of the article is to illustrate a government policy-centered approach to universal ICT skills transfer. We believe that the recent laws passed in Venezuela, while specifically aimed at universally migrating government offices, agencies, and industries to Open Source Software and Systems, constitute a new approach to the problem of how to augment the number of skilled IT workers, citizens, and IT-focused companies. We assert that these policies have the potential to change the operating systems and infrastructure of the entire country of Venezuela and provide opportunities for the transfer of ICT skills to traditionally underserved populations. We find that the mandatory migration to OSS policies and laws has the potential to produce massive IT skills transfer. In contrast with the approaches taken by other nations, the Venezuelan government has not relied on the private sector to invest in large-scale projects to build the IT sector. The Venezuelan government has instead created its own large-scale project. In addition, the Venezuelan government has created IT training and educational centers, as well as its own software development centers and small business incubators. Through this approach, the government has been able to close the IT development circle, controlling all aspects of the development process more tightly than in other nations. The Venezuelan policies and OSS migration are relatively new, and the data to measure their success does not yet exist. However, the strategies employed by the government are interesting in themselves because of their potential to begin a cascade of change throughout the country.