e-centres services at local and regional level in romania balti, 20 septembrie 2012

E-centres services at local and regional level in

Romania

Balti, 20 Septembrie 2012

Digital inclusion for all!

Who we are?

EOS – Romania is a local NGO based in Timisoara, a town situated in the Western part of Romania, in Banat region and is the residence of Timis County

It has more than 300,00 inhabitants - the third most populous city in the country, conform to statistics from 2011.


What we are doing?

EOS main purpose is to reduce the digital divide by creating and providing opportunities for all community members, in order to acquire ICT skills and abilities necessary to use information's and to create new knowledge's, things that are essential for participation in the development of an open society based on knowledge.



Projects and EOS directions

Introduction and development of training programs in the area of the new technologies for the teachers from the preuniversitary education sector.

Development of programs for the wider community, with a focus on the use of new technologies – including local and regional NGO’s.


CERTIPRO – entry-level IT Certification in Romanian Schools

Fundatia EOS appointed as Certiport Authorised Partner for Romania Certipro - EOS’s programme for delivering Certiport certification products.

What is CERTIPORT?Global education technology company which develops, markets and distributes education and certification testing programs for computer users in the academic, corporate and workforce segments worldwide.

CERTIFICATION “ENTRY – LEVEL”

Certiport focuses on “entry-level” certificationExams are developed by vendors, not by CertiportOnline testing Exams must be taken at Authorised Testing Centres

.


ICT certification pyramid

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Professional IT CertificationsCertifications to validate the basic strategic objectives for IT programs

Professional IT CertificationsCertification of IT skills for people with professional experience of 2 years or more

Career oriented IT certifications fundamental (For those interested in a career in IT)

Desktop User CertificationStandard Global

Certifications/Digital literacy – Introduction level


CERTIPRO PRODUCTS

Main performance certification based on digital literacy

Foundation certification that measures knowledge of terminology and the basic IT skills

Official certification program for Microsoft Office

Certification for students to explore career options and academic technology

Top certification to validate digital communication skills of "entry-level"

"entry level” certification in software 2D and 3D

First certification of "architect-level" in the field, designed for academics


Why is necessary the certification? Student benefits

Globally respected credentials; A valuable “differentiator” and credential on a CV; Demonstrates motivation and commitment; Ensures students have ICT skills necessary for university or

workplace;

Benefits for the school institutions Students have better chances of entering university or gaining

employment; Strengthens the substance and value of curricula; Provides reliable and validated tool to measure digital literacy of

students; Promotes improved teaching skills through enhanced digital

literacy


Digital inclusion community projects at local and regional level

Get on line week campaign – national campaign called “Hai pe net”

European Get Online Week 2012 in Romania - locally branded as “Hai pe Net!” - was organized and coordinated by EOS Foundation (Educating for an Open Society http://www.eos.ro/Pagina.asp?id=87) in cooperation with Digital Alliance for Romania http://aliantadigitala.ro/ during 26 – 30 of March.

The objective of Get Online Week was to help get people through the doors of their local telecentres , enabling staff to build people’s confidence to move on into more structured learning about technology and the benefits it brings to their personal and professional lives.

The campaigns target group was identified based on the statistics regarding digital skills and usage of technology today - and the main focus were on:oPeople that never used a computer and do not knowledge the benefits of ICT; oYoung people aged between 16 to 24 years, that don’t have the digital skills needed and/or do not know how to use software packages required on the labor market; oUnemployed people;oSeniors.




Tools used during the campaign by e-centres

Skillage (www.skillage.eu) - tool for youngsters - online software application that helps to understand the more sophisticated ICT skills is needed for the job market. Employment Toolkit - www.keycompetences.eu/wordpress/ - for unemployed part of the community and for those who are looking for a better job;Online safety - http://www.copiidisparuti.ro/

576 telecentres participated in the national campaign

The activities developed by this telecentres referred to:•first click, e-Government services, e-Banking, online women, online seniors, intergenerational learning or online services;



Impact of Get Online Week in Romania

15 760 Romanians, in only one week, participated in Get Online Week.

77% participated in the Get Online Week campaign from Telecentres, 13% from home and 19% from work.

With this, Romania came third in terms of rate of participation in the European Get Online Week Campaign.



It is intended primarily for local communities especially in rural areas or small towns; even if the funds for this project were stopped by Microsoft Corporation, the curriculum elaborated within the project continue to be used by the national telecentres in their ICT trainings. The curriculum has 8 course modules based on the Microsoft Office applications, and they are available for free for community members.



BIBLIONET PROJECT – his main objective is to ensure access to information by introducing modern technology in public libraries, given the fact that 64% of Romanian never used the Internet.

Within the project EOS worked in partnership with:Microsoft Corporation, partner of the program Global libraries.Irex Foundation;Romanian Ministry of Culture;Public libraries in Romania.



The program was financed by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and his scope was to equip the public libraries with computers and to develop a modern system of public libraries in Romania.

EOS role in the project was to:Facilitate the access to information;To train the librarians;Promote the value of libraries in the community.



E-aptitudini program

The concept of the program is based on collaboration between corporate domains (Microsoft), institutional (MEC and MCSI) and NGO sector:

Junior Achivement Romania;Nadia Comăneci Foundation; Civitas Foundation;e-centre network in România; The Association of Producers and Distributors of ICT equipment;EurActiv; National Association of Public Libraries in Romania and last but not least EOS România Foundation.



The program offers the access to a portal that where the courses and the educational resources are constructed as a pyramid with three levels, namely:

the basic IT knowledge;Knowledge for employability and entrepreneurship;Knowledge for IT professionals, focusing on the first level.

The portal is also an important mean of orientation for community members regardless their age, education and profession in the consultation of systematic national supply of courses and educational resources on training and improving the skills needed to use the computer;


ICT training and activities for regional NGO’s

•ICT accredited courses as “Operator text and image processing” - for young people young people that are leaving from orphanages and should be integrated into society and the labour market.

•Establishing partnerships with the with General Directorate for Child Protection and other NGO’s that have this type of beneficiaries from Timis County.

•Basic It training for adults with easy mental disabilities for the beneficiaries of the most important NGO for people adult with mental disabilities in the Banat region.


PR and ICT courses for NGO representative

A special course was especially designed for NGO’s staff and he is entitled

“PRomIT - public relations in IT context” – he was elaborated as a result of a detailed analysis of the needs of the NGOs in the Western region;

The course was until now offered for free for the organizations and more than 45 NGO’s representatives benefited of this course.

During the course the participants can learn about:

Image. Reputation. PR within the NGO’sWhich is the role of a specialist in PR;Public relations activities;Important public relations materials;Online fundraising;Online PR tools;SEO - search engine optimization - online promotion


Telecentres network in Romania/e-centres

In Romania telecentres are different structures and they were established by different actors and through various programs.

Therefore we have many types of telecentres:

•E-centre network - that was established by EOS Foundation with the support of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Program since 2007 until present and which has in the present a number of 40 active centres).The e-centres are educational centres, non-profit or community organizations.

•Public Access Points to Information – these centres were created through the "Knowledge- based Economy" project, initiated by the Romanian Government through the Communications and Information Society Ministry supported by the World Bank.

•Libraries with free access to internet and IT trainings - telecentres that were equipped with computers for the public through the Biblionet project, funded by the Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates.


Main activities implemented in the local e-centre in Romania

Employability Toolkit

10 e-centres managers, piloted with 5 people from their community, the Employment Toolkit developed during the program “Grundtvig – Key competences for all”.

The Feed-back received at the end of this training helped to improve and to better localize the Romanian version of this guide.

Good results of piloting the Employability Toolkit conducted to the use of this tool in their local e-centres with persons that are looking for a job.

The Toolkit is developed in partnership with other 4 organizations from Belgium, Spain, United Kingdom and Latvia. Also he is translated in every one of the partners language and is available for free at: http://www.keycompetences.eu/wordpress.



TRAINING is one of the major services provided through the telecentre network that are supporting the skills development.

•Training (ICT and soft skills development)•Events•Other services (fundraising, scanning, renting, etc.)

ICT training

Accredited ICT Courses as “Operator text and image processing”, “Entry operator, data processing and validation”, “Electronic Computer and Network Operator” – which are certified by Romanian Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Education.

ICT Courses – without certification

Save time! Use Internet banking, Grandparents online, Balance cost – efficiency,ICT for youngster in the local communities – web design, blogs.



Personal and professional courses – soft skills development

Train of Trainers Course,Be a Successful Manager – Leadership,

Entrepreneurship courses:Be entrepreneur,Communication in business,Marketing Basics,Basic Accounting and financial management, Business plan development,How to establish a business.

EVENTS

Employability Campaigns/Job Shop Get Online Week/Hai pe Net!


Thank you!+40 256 498 172

Cornelia Popescu, Project coordinatorEOS Romania

[email protected]; [email protected]

www.eos.ro

e-centres services at local and regional level in romania balti, 20 septembrie 2012

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