TSTT rings up Web page design for NGOs

Several Non-Government and community-based organisations will benefit from a TSTT-sponsored Microsoft Office and Web page design training programme. TSTT’s Corporate Communications Manager Rae Ann Harper Walters said the programme is geared to helping NGOs and CBOs become self-sufficient in offering computer literacy training and web page design services to persons in the communities they serve. “Very often, NGOs obtain computers to set up small computer labs but do not have the in-house capabilities to run computer literacy programmes,” she said, noting that this training programme will bridge that gap for them.

Walters said that this initiative was part of TSTT’s annual commemoration of World Telecommunications Day. This year, she said the focus is on the role of Information Communications Technology (ICT) in leading the way to sustainable development. A key part of this is helping as many people as possible become comfortable just using the technology so that they can make the next step and begin to make it work for them, she said. TSTT will invest over $50,000 to facilitate the training, which will commence in June and continue for two months.

The programme is designed for the Intermediate to Advanced level, so participants must be computer literate. By the time they have completed the training however, participants will have enough knowledge to comfortably teach computer literacy through the NGO’s and CBO’s they represent. “By giving NGO’s and CBO’s the skill to develop their own webpages, these organisations will be contributing to the wealth of information already available on the Internet,” Walters said, noting that having a presence on the Internet would also make it easier for these organisations to showcase themselves to the world when seeking local and international sponsorship for projects.