CDI Americas - Latin America and the Caribbean

The CDI curriculum teaches common computer programmes and Internet training, such as MS, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and HTML. In addition, students are instructed in computer and hardware maintenance and civic education in the areas of human rights advocacy, non-violence training, health, and environmental responsibility. The "civic responsibility" training is tailored to the realities of each individual community, and is integrated to the ICT curriculum. This approach is complemented by extensive job training and an internship programme in high-tech related fields.

Technology, Youth.

In the Latin American and Caribbean region, many communities and classrooms lack computers and Internet connections, leaving young people ill-prepared for the opportunities and jobs generated by today's knowledge-based economy. This opportunity is especially critical for marginalised youth, for whom the digital divide is even wider. In light of the fact that 60% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean is under the age of 30, with most of them living in poverty, programme organisers sought to actively engage this sector in the development process and to mobilise its comparative technical advantage and capacities.

To this end, CDI Americas reproduced in the rest of the region a model that allowed CDI Brazil to create over 190 information technology and citizenship schools in the Brazilian shantytowns. That programme, created in 1994, has graduated more than 60,000 students in the low-income communities (favelas) in which it operates. CDI Brazil provided initial donations to establish self-sustaining and self-administered schools that teach basic computer skills, primary Internet knowledge, and civic responsibility in intensive three-month modules. Computers attract youth that attended school and later dropped out, youth that never attended school, and youth previously engaged in illicit behaviour. As a result of this programme, a group of CDI students from the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro interned with StarMedia Brazil and later went on to secure positions teaching technology and Internet skills to youth with Globo.com and elsewhere.

The CDI Americas model has been replicated in Uruguay. Six schools have been opened there, reaching some of the most needy youth in and around Montevideo, and training has been completed for over 30 instructors throughout Uruguay. The programme was also replicated in Colombia and Mexico: twenty schools were inaugurated in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Medellín, Manizales, and Bello. Plans are underway to identify communities and open schools in Monterrey and Mexico City.

There are three additional IDB projects in preparation that could potentially contribute to the expansion of CDI Americas:

• Rio Digital. IDB Group's Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) is developing a project with CDI Brazil, the Government of Rio, and other local NGOs to scale up the CDI model in Rio. The pilot programme aims to upgrade twelve of the existing centers and convert them into "model schools". Other project components include new product development, establishing new courses, technology upgrades, creating franchising packages to systematize growth and quality, and partnership development with the private sector. The total cost of the project is approximately $1.5 million.
• Strengthening CDI Brazil. An IDB regional technical cooperation to strengthen CDI Brazil's institutional capacity and to design a strategy to expand the model to other countries in Latin America. The project is also expected to finance the creation of at least ten new schools in each of four new countries and/or to strengthen already established schools in Colombia and Uruguay.
• Regional Program to Promote Youth Entrepreneurship. The IDB and the MIF are designing a programme to promote youth entrepreneurship and increase employment among young adults through innovative programmes together with the International Youth Foundation. The programme will co-finance projects designed to foster business skills and promote enterprise development throughout the region with special emphasis on information technology. Specifically, it will specifically foster the integration of information technology in new business ventures.

Partners
The Inter-American Development Bank's Youth Development and Outreach Program, CDI Brazil, Microsoft Corporation, and StarMedia Foundation.