© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Creating Opportunities for Women in Developing Countries: Cisco Systems and Partners join together to develop gender sensitive ICT Training E. Erin Walsh November 1, 2001

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Internet & Education “ ” The two great EQUALIZERS in life are the INTERNET and EDUCATION. John Chambers CEO – Cisco Systems

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Networking Academy Program History Launched in October Academies; 7 states in U.S. Created as solution for schools Schools becoming wired Lacked financial and human resources to manage networks Academy students design, maintain, and troubleshoot school networks

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Networking Academy Program: Curriculum, Assessment, Training, and Accountability

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Web-Based Curriculum

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Online Assessment

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Cisco Academy Training Center Regional Academy LocalAcademyLocalAcademyLocalAcademyLocalAcademy … … … … LocalAcademyLocalAcademy … … Program Hierarchy S T U D E N T S

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Chinese French Canadian German Japanese PortugueseSpanish Hungarian Standard French Global Translations

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Networking Academy Program “Largest E-Learning Laboratory” 227,790* Students Currently Enrolled 25,000 Online Tests Daily 6,115,703+ Total Tests Taken 8,384 Academies, 133 Countries 23,881 Instructors *Statistic as of October 18, 2001

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. October 25, 2001 Statistics Number of Academies: 8,384 Number of enrolled students: 227,790 Number of countries: 133/ number of empowerment zones: 28 Number of Academy graduates (completed semester 4): 49,190 Number of Academy Instructors: 24,363

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Empowering Women in ICT High demand for ICT skills creates opportunities for all individuals, regardless of gender, race, creed, etc. Targeted development interventions that provide women with access to IT skills and employment will allow them to contribute to the development of the IT sector in their countries. Cisco Management System allows for unprecedented program scalability and data collection of students across the globe. Gender focused projects and Academies

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Gender Initiative: Cisco and Cisco Learning Institute Mainstream Gender into all aspects of the Cisco Networking Academy Program Gender Module being designed for instructors Expert analysis of curriculum – to ensure that it is gender and culturally sensitive Recruitment and retention strategies developed Establish a critical mass of female role models, students and instructors Creating a “Gender” web tool – Best Practices Data collection and analysis Targeted Gender Projects across the globe Building a gender eco-system of partners

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Success through Partnerships

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. STRATEGIC PARTNERS UNDP USAID World Bank – INFODEV, BPD UNECA UNIFEM UNRWA OAS Academy for Educational Development

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. UNECA - World Bank/InfoDev - Cisco UNECA IT Center as Regional Academy in Addis Ababa InfoDev contribution: scholarship fund Cisco contribution: training, equipment and support 50 women to attend Academy Program classes: 1 Anglophone class, 1 Francophone class Training to include: CCNA course, entrepreneurship, business management, marketing, gender and development Objective: create group of women leaders to play active role in Internet Economy of Africa

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. UNECA - World Bank/InfoDev - Cisco Current class has 27 women from 16 Anglophone countries Participating countries: Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia Next class to begin February Students to be selected from Francophone countries

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. UNECA Student Test Scores 27 female students currently enrolled Test results through chapter 9 Overall class average is 87% Half of the students have an average score of 90% or above

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Least Developed Countries Initiative G-8 Summit in July 2000: Called for New Public and Private Sector Efforts to Bridge the Global Digital Divide Cisco Is Delivering Its $3.5 Million Investment by Establishing Its Global Cisco Networking Academy Program in Over Half the World’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Strategic Partners: United Nations Development Program USAID’s Leland Initiative United Nations Volunteers/UNITeS

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Initiative Goals Provide students in LDCs access to same IT training as those in 96 other countries. Begin to develop human resource capacity to manage the new Internet infrastructure with trained, skilled workers. Quickly demonstrate the benefits of the program and the power of ICT applications for development. Enable businesses and governments to compete in the global Internet Economy. Create a community of learning: North/South and South/South. Document process

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. LDC—Results to Date Cisco Networking Academy Program established 28 LDCs and 6 non-LDCs 58 Academies 111 Instructors trained in Africa and Asia 1,000+ students enrolled as of 10/22/2001

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. LDC Initiative: Gender Strategies Reduced fees for female students All female classes Open house at the Academy, proactively invite women to participate. “Women encouraged to apply.” Work with NGOs to promote program and recruit women Collaboration with Gender Ministries Train female instructors to serve as role models

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. LDC Initiative: Gender Activities ASAFE in Cameroon: gender-focused Academy at women’s NGO, run by female Executive Director 31st December Women’s Movement in Ghana: gender-focused Academy at women’s NGO National University of Rwanda: all female class taught by female instructor University of Kinshasa: 2 all female classes UNECA All Female Classes: 1 Anglophone class began in 08/01; Francophone class to begin 02/02 NEPAL : 1 all female class to begin 12/01 CAMBODIA : Female instructor recruitment

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. E-quality Project in Jordan Presently in Jordanian Universities: Women represent only 29.6% of students enrolled in computer science and 13.8% in computer engineering The number of women in ICT education decreases substantially from the undergraduate level to doctoral education Women’s enrollment in community college computer programs is increasing even as total enrollment is decreasing. This indicates strong demand for IT training.

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. E-quality Project in Jordan Cisco partnering with UNIFEM and the Govt. of Jordan Objectives: Develop and disseminate an information base of the gender and ICT, market and policy environment Establish gender-focused Networking Academies Evaluate project results for expansion in Arab Region Ensure women’s access to quality jobs and leadership positions in the ICT sector Project activities target: Jordan ICT sector, secondary school students, community colleges, university students, NGOs, UN agencies as well as women in local communities and the general public.

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Academy for Educational Development Working in 15 countries to conduct gender research, gather data and identify success stories: Brazil, El Salvador, India, Jordan, Mexico, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, UAE, Canada, Poland, UK, Rwanda and South Korea Partnering with CLI to design a Gender Module for integration into Cisco Instructor Training

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. IT for Sustainable Development All I can say to all female IT enthusiasts is that there has never been a greater opportunity for females to do what they really want. Cisco Networking Academy Program is one way to achieve those dreams. In any case, women have never been barred from doing what men do. Weakness is just in the mind. Remember: She who dares, wins. Barbara Munyati Cisco Networking Academy Program Instructor University of Zambia “ ’’ Barbara Munyati Cisco Networking Academy Program Instructor University of Zambia

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.