Monthly Archives: November 2010

UN: Information technology can make progress towards development in Latin America

Lima, Nov. 23 (ANDINA). Information and communications technology (ICT) has a vital role to play in advancing economic development, a senior United Nations official told the opening of a regional conference in Lima, on Monday.

“Technological innovation must permeate the social and productive spheres. We are spurred on by the idea that ICTs can help make progress towards a development that generates new relationships among the State, market and society,” Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), told the gathering.

Some 300 participants from 18 countries, representing government, UN agencies and civil society are taking part in the two-day Third Ministerial Conference on the Information Society of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The meeting is expected to conclude with the adoption of a new regional plan of action called eLAC2015, which highlights ICTs as a means of achieving development with more innovation and equality, according to UN News Centre.

“The potential of ICTs to achieve greater productive convergence and thus generate competitive advantages and increase the coverage of services such as education, health and government services represents a valuable set of assets that we must learn how to use,” said Bárcena.

“Today we face the challenge of identifying new priorities and proposing a new action plan to step up regional cooperation in this field,” she added, noting that eLAC can help coordinate efforts and the exchange of best practices within the region.

At today’s meeting, Bárcena also presented “ICT for growth and equality: renewing strategies for the information society,” a document which examines the digital divide between Latin America and developed nations, and proposes strategies to renew public policies in this area.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=GCFLUL7f9pQ=

ECLAC adopts regional ICT action plan at Lima forum

  • Financial centre in the district of San Isidro (Lima). Photo: ANDINA / Victor Palomino.
    Financial centre in the district of San Isidro (Lima). Photo: ANDINA / Victor Palomino.

  • Lima, Nov. 24 (ANDINA). The UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has adopted the eLAC2015 regional action plan at its third ministerial conference on the information society in Lima, Peru, between 21-23 November.

    The plan views ICT as a means of achieving development with more innovation and equality and proposes a more active state role for the mass use of broadband.

    The member states resolved to continue strengthening regional networks for research, technological development, innovation and the promotion of solidarity actions to bring the benefits of ICT to countries with relatively lower levels of development, telecompaper.com reported.

    They agreed to work on finding funding mechanisms for such projects. ELAC2015 gives priority to reaching universal broadband access, which will require increasing direct investment to bring broadband to all public institutions and at a reasonable cost for homes, business and public access facilities.

    It proposes to bring internet access to all schools, along with interactive applications and public multimedia content. ECLAC’s fourth ministerial conference on the information socity will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2013.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=Jz035ILEPF0=

IDB held forum on women entrepreneurship in Lima

  • Peruvian weavers. Photo: ANDINA / Archive
    Peruvian weavers. Photo: ANDINA / Archive

  • Lima, Nov. 18 (ANDINA). The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), the World Bank, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft Für Technische Zusammernarbeit (GTZ) jointly unveiled two new studies on women entrepreneurship at a forum “Mujeres sin barreras”, sponsored by Mibanco in Lima on November 17, 2010.

    Entrepreneurship contributes to a vibrant private sector and stimulates broad economic growth. The Latin America and Caribbean region has experienced significant growth of microenterprises led by women, but few are able to scale-up and the participation of women is lagging among medium and large businesses.

    “Women’s Economic Opportunities in the Formal Private Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean”, a joint report of GTZ, the World Bank and the IDB, analyzes women’s economic opportunities with a focus on entrepreneurship in the formal private sector to explore if women are choosing size and sector for their businesses optimally, or if the choice is the result of multiple constrains, including gender ones.

    “A Business to Call Her Own: Identifying, Analyzing and Overcoming Constrains to Women’s Small Businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean”, a study by the IDB’s affiliated organization MIF, provides an overview of the status of women’s businesses, focusing on microenterprises.

    Through a series of case studies in Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru, the report explores the differences between men’s and women’s businesses in these countries and the main barriers women face as they start and grow their businesses.

    According to the IDB, special emphasis is given to the role of access to financial services and to how the growth and development of the microfinance industry in Latin America has supported women microentrepreneurs.

    The event brought together some 150 financial institutions, entrepreneurs, NGOs, government officials and academics specialized in gender and entrepreneurship.

    Virginia Borra, Peruvian Minister of Women and Social Development was the keynote speaker while Federico Salazar, journalist for el grupo Comercio (Peru) moderated the forum.

    For more information on the event and studies, visit the Mujeres sin Barreras event page.

  • Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=Yma1yYbruG4=

One Laptop Per Child

Peru holds a special place in the progress of the OLPC Foundation, being one of the first countries to pilot the prototype XO and subsequently commit to a nationwide program to put a rugged, low-cost connected laptop into the hands of every young child in the impoverished, developing country.

Encouraged by the success of Uruguay and with a deep experience in the constructionist approach to basic education, Peru began its OLPC adventure in June 2007 in a small remote rural village in the Andes mountains called Arahuay. XO laptops were given to the town’s 46 primary school students. So dramatic was the impact that in December the same year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the PerúEduca team began rolling out the first tranche of 40,000 laptops to children in remote and rural one-classroom schools.

Students with their mothers at I.E. No. 10083 in Incahuasi

Today, Peru has more than 300,000 XOs deployed in more than four thousand schools and is currently the world’s largest OLPC deployment. It has some 2.7million children in the OLPC target range of 6-12 years.

"Our decision to work with One Laptop per Child was a relatively easy one," said Oscar Becerra, General Director for Educational Technology at the MOE. "We have been applying the constructionist learning theory for more than 20 years in Peru, and the XO laptop is the perfect tool for children to learn by doing, sharing and expressing themselves. The low cost of the laptop as well as its unique features – the display readable in direct sunlight, the mesh network and the overall ruggedness of the machine – make it a great fit for the remote and rural villages of our country."

Nicholas Negroponte noted that "Peru’s understanding of constructionist learning theories is so mature and longstanding that other countries can benefit from this important decision. While we immediately see the difference the laptop makes in the lives of these children, we look forward to the long-term positive impact it will have on the eradication of poverty and on societies’ other great challenges."

A students turns for a photo in Ferreñafe

UNICEF notes that of Peru’s population of 28 million, there are 3.8 million people living in extreme poverty – including 2.1 million children. Many of these children live in remote and rural areas in the mountains and attend schools with very few resources for a modern education.

Seeking to address the educational inequity suffered in rural areas, Peru’s MOE targeted its first XO deployments to areas suffering the highest poverty and highest rates of illiteracy and social exclusion, and the lowest rates of population concentration in school.

    The MOE’s stated objectives for the OLPC program include:

  • 1) Improving the quality of public primary education, especially that of children of the remotest places of extreme povert;
  • 2) Developing skills in curriculum design considered by students of primary level education through pedagogical application of XO laptops;
  • 3) Train and provide continuous updating of teachers in pedagogical use of the XO laptop. (The MOE has trained some 115,000 teachers in using the XO.)

An early evaluation of progress in Peru released in May 2009 showed a 50% improvement in reading comprehension among students and of almost 60% for textual and mathematical analysis. The study also noted the texts produced by children and teachers demonstrate more creativity and improvement in writing and spelling.

In 2009, Peru shared the UNESCO Prize for the Use of Information Technologies and Communication in Education for its One Laptop Per Child program. The two winning projects were chosen from a total of 67 projects submitted by 47 states.

Peru guarantees the right to free education and school is compulsory from years 6 to 18. In 2006, at least 96% of school age children were attending school.

Children in Peru suffer high rates of malnutrition during the early years of life are at risk of developmental delays that impede later learning, with 30% of all children under five suffering from severe or moderate stunting, well above the average for Latin America of 16% (UNESCO 2010).

 

Source: http://laptop.org/en/children/countries/peru.shtml

Facebook users in Peru reach over 3.5 million

  • Peruvian Facebook statistics. Source: Checkfacebook.com
    Peruvian Facebook statistics. Source: Checkfacebook.com

  • Lima, Nov. 21 (ANDINA). Social networking giant Facebook is growing rapidly in Peru with more than 3.5 million users so far, according to checkfacebook.com.

    In Peru, 13.4 percent of users have Internet at home, while 65.3 percent of them need to go to Internet booths.

    According to the latest statistics, 52.9 percent of users are men and 47.1 percent are women.

    The data shows that Facebook is more popular among people aged from 18 to 24 with 34.7%, followed by people aged 24-34 with 26.5%.

    As of July 2010, 500 million people all around the world are actively using Facebook to stay connected with their friends and the people around them.

  • Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=FApVAByrf40=

China’s ZTE wins Peruvian network supply contract

Tech & Communications | November 24, 2010 [ 15:14 ]

China’s ZTE wins Peruvian network supply contract

LivinginPeru.com

China's ZTE wins Peruvian network supply contract
Chinese company ZTE will invest US$ 48 million over the next seven years in Peru. (Photo: ZTE)

China’s telecom equipment corporation, ZTE, won a contract from ChinaTel Group subsidiary, Perusat, for a deployment of a wireless broadband telecommunications network in Peru, reported Andina.

The total value of the contract is expected to be US$48 million over the next seven years. The purchase orders for the first phase have a value of US$ 6.98 million.

ZTE is financing 85 percent of the cost of infrastructure equipment covered in the phase one purchase orders.

National banks in China, with whom ZTE has commercial relationship, are expected to finance future equipment orders, also at 85 percent.

"We are excited about our partnership with ZTE and its ability to fully deliver broadband equipment and end-to-end network solutions," said ChinaTel’s CEO George Alvarez.

"ZTE has the foresight to create equipment solutions that will migrate from the current WiMAX 802.16e protocol to 802.16m, to TD-LTE, or dual band 16m and LTE," he added.

The first phase of deployment, with an initial geographic coverage in seven cities, is scheduled to be completed by approximately May 2011. Perusat will expand capacity in each market as subscriber’s demands increases.

Founded in 1985, ZTE is China’s largest listed telecom equipment company. It operates in more than 140 countries, servicing 59 of the world’s top 100 telecom operators.

The Chinese corporation offers a wide choice of products ranging from voice, data, multimedia and wireless broadband services.

 

Source: http://www.livinginperu.com/news-13602-tech-communications-chinas-zte-wins-peruvian-network-supply-contract

Preliminary evaluation results from Peru’s “Una laptop por niño”

A consortium consisting of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Peruvian Ministry of Education, and GRADE (a Peruvian NGO) are currently working on an extensive multi-year evaluation of Peru’s Una laptop por niño program. Recently the first preliminary report from that evaluation was published: English version / Spanish version.


The preliminary IADB report

Even though I’ve been accused of cherry picking data from this report, overall, the findings documented in the report align quite well with my own observations while I visited Una laptop por niño in mid-August as I reported in the OLPC in Peru: A Problematic Una Laptop Por Niño Program article over on EduTechDebate that generated almost 150 comments.

My one sentence summary would be: These first results aren’t particularly great. Secondly, from an implementation point of view I think this paragraph from page 11 is a good summary of some key findings:

Relevant aspects to be considered in the implementation include:

  1. the demand for greater preparation by the teachers
  2. the low percentage of students that can take the laptops home
  3. the low connectivity to the Internet and to the local network
  4. the lack of technical and pedagogical support in the schools and locations

The one aspect that I personally find quite worrying is that the use of the XOs in schools drops of significantly after some months, which according to the report

…could be a reflection of the need for more technical and pedagogical support for the teachers, as well as of the lack of planning sessions, activities and digital resources appropriate for educational use.

Another issue is that only slightly more than 50% of the pupils are allowed to take the XOs home thereby significantly reducing the potential amount of time that they can use them.

Last but not least the report reveals that only 95.2% of the schools have electricity at the moment (a fact which the Peruvian Ministry of Education is currently addressing by distributing 40,000 solar panels) and that Internet access is limited to 1,4% of the schools.

On the more positive side of things teachers and parents demonstrate a very high level of enthusiasm for Una laptop por niño:

…it is noted that more than 95% of the teachers in schools that received the laptops think that these contribute in improving the children’s education and learning, and that this motivates them to attend school. Furthermore, between 90 and 94% of the teachers reported that laptops improve and facilitate the quality of teaching. Additionally, they facilitate the use of active learning strategies.

In terms of impact on the pupils it is noted that in case they use the XOs three or more days per week their abilities to use computers increased compared to their peers in the control group (which didn’t receive XOs). Those children who can use the computers outside of school also do that quite a bit as the report mentions that home use averages between one and two hours per day.

Overall this report is certainly a very interesting read and provides an excellent overview of Una laptop por niño’s status quo.

Aside from the ongoing work on Uruguay’s Plan Ceibal this is certainly the most extensive evaluation effort around OLPC that I’m currently aware of. These efforts are continuing as we speak and I’m already looking forward to the next report which will contain insights about the program’s medium term impacts (12 to 18 months) after it first reached Peru’s schools.

Particularly given the fact that Peru recently announced the expansion of Una laptop por niño to 810,000 XOs by July 2011 – which would make it the world’s largest OLPC project – it will be interesting to see how the country’s Ministry of Education manages to address the significant issues and challenges the report uncovered in the coming months and years.

In the end I still believe that Montevideo will be the OLPC capital of the world however I think that an increasing number of people are also looking at Una laptop por niño to learn what to do – and what not to do – when implementing large scale 1-to-1 computing in education projects.

 

Source: http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/peru/first_evaluation_results_from.html

President Garcia anticipates more technology transfers via FTA

Seoul, Nov. 15 (ANDINA). Visiting Peruvian President Alan Garcia Monday expressed active enthusiasm Monday for a free trade accord with Korea, saying that it would improve people’s lives as well as benefit Korean companies.

“The way to improve the quality of people’s lives in my country is by technological development and education,” the president told a group of reporters at a press conference according to a report from The Korea Times.

Garcia has put his faith strongly on the free trade agreement (FTA) with Korea to achieve this. After 18 months of talks, the two countries concluded negotiations in August.

Garcia flew to Korea Monday at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting held in Yokohama, Japan, over the weekend. The final signing will take place early next year before ratification. Peru also signed an FTA with Japan over the weekend.

“Korea has far more advanced technologies than Peru,” he said, adding, “We are particularly looking forward to cooperation in the natural gas field,” in which Korea has expertise in transportation and drilling.

He went on to mention technologies in oil refining, construction of power plants, seafood processing and waterworks, and the environment, as sectors he hopes Korean companies will advance into.

The FTA will guarantee Peru better market access in Korea, bringing in organic coffee, bananas, asparagus, textiles and fish products. Korea will export its automobiles and electronic goods to the Peruvian market. The President made a surprise comment, joining condemnation on North Korea’s attack on a South Korean vessel in the West Sea.

“We condemn North Korea for attacking a neighboring country, as it interferes with democratic development.”

Regarding the faltering Korea-U.S. FTA, he commented that it was evidence that Korean products have gained competence.

President Garcia’s stopover in Korea was very short ? he leaves later today. He also met with CEOs of Korean companies that are currently investing in Peru, including SK Energy & Chemicals.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=QT4DsWVwzjc=

Peru elected to serve on UN women board

  • Ambassador Gonzalo Gutierrez. Photo: ANDINA / Norman Cordova.
    Ambassador Gonzalo Gutierrez. Photo: ANDINA / Norman Cordova.

  • Lima, Nov. 11 (ANDINA). Peru was elected as a member of the newly-created United Nations agency on gender equality and women’s empowerment for the 2011-2013 period, Ambassador Gonzalo Gutierrez announced Thursday.

    The elections, held in the 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), will enable the new Executive Board to come together prior to the official establishment on 1 January 2011 of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

    The 41 board members were selected on the following basis: 10 from Africa, 10 from Asia, 4 from Eastern Europe, 6 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 5 from Western Europe and 6 from contributing countries.

    Elected from the African Group were Angola, Cape Verde, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria and Tanzania.

    Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea and Timor-Leste were elected from among the Asian States.

    Estonia, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine were elected from among the Eastern European States, while Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden were elected from the Western European and Other States.

    In addition, the Council elected Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada and Peru from the group of Latin American and Caribbean States.

    The Council also elected Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Kingdom and United States from among the “contributing countries,” for three-year terms beginning today.

    The 35 members elected from the regional groups will serve two-year and three-years, beginning today, as determined by the drawing of lots.

    Chosen to serve two-year terms were Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, El Salvador, Estonia, France, India, Italy, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania and Timor-Leste.

    Angola, Cape Verde, China, Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Grenada, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Korea, Sweden and Ukraine were selected to serve three-year terms.

    Headed by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, UN Women is the merger of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).

    The new agency was established on 2 July by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights and their full participation in global affairs. One of its goals will be to support the Commission on the Status of Women and other inter-governmental bodies in devising policies.

    It will also aim to help Member States implement standards, provide technical and financial support to countries which request it, and forge partnerships with civil society. Within the UN, it will hold the world body accountable for its own commitments on gender equality.

    In carrying out its functions, UN Women will be working with an annual budget of at least $500 million – double the current combined resources of the four agencies it comprises.

    Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=4Zb3rsdcHAk=

Peru ranks 6th in high-speed Internet connection in South America

Lima, Nov. 14 (ANDINA). Peru ranks 6th in high-speed Internet connection in South America, with 1.17 megabytes per second (Mbit/s), according to Royal Pingdom web site, which includes a broadband speed ranking in different countries.

This list of countries ranges from South Korea with 16.63 Mbit/s, Hong Kong with 8.57 Mbit/s, Japan with 8.03 Mbit/s, Romania 6.80 Mbit/s and Holland 6.50 Mbit/s.

In Latin America, Chile’s Internet connection reaches a speed of 2.19 Mbit/s, Colombia 1.65 Mbit/s, Argentina 1.55 Mbit/s, Mexico 1.49 Mbit/s and Brazil 1.36 Mbit/s.

Peru’s broadband connection speed to is higher than those of other emerging economies such as China and India, reaching 0.86 Mbit/s and 0.82 Mbit/s respectively, and Venezuela, 0.72 Mbit/s of speed.

Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) pointed out that up to now, Peru has more than one million Internet users, an important advance in this sector.

“One of the goals for 2016 is to reach four million broadband connection in Peru, with 512 kilobits per second (Kbit/s),” said Peru’s Minister of Transport and Communication, Enrique Cornejo.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=gyUBz1Tvkp8=