Atos Origin and IICD work together on implementing online training and education tools in developing countries

Utrecht, March 2008 -

Atos Origin, an international IT services company, signed an alliance with the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), a development aid organisation. The agreement is primarily focused on strengthening local organisations’ expertise in the field of education and training in Africa, but also on strengthening IICD expertise in the field of eLearning.

Under the name ’Knowledge 4 Development’, Atos Origin’s unit Learning Solutions in the Netherlands will be donating 80 working days as well as its educational and technical knowledge to IICD and local organisations in Africa. Among other things, Atos Origin Learning Solutions supports IICD in the implementation of an online training tool for self-analysis and evaluation. Consultants will also provide support for various local IICD projects and activities, from the development of an eLearning tool for training evaluation partners in various countries to educating local training partners in Zambia in the development of multimedia training materials. IICD employees will also profit from the cooperation, and will gain insight into the most recent developments in the field of eLearning.

Better teachers in front of the classroom
IICD has been involved in educational, governance, agricultural and small business projects in Zambia since 2000. “Information technology is only being used incidentally in Zambia’s schools. The use of new training methods in the educational programme – including IT applications like video, CD-ROMs and the internet – is of crucial importance for the quality of education. Curricula can be updated simply and easily, and it helps teachers who must work without facilities such as a lab or other tools to teach certain concepts with the aid of computer simulations”, says Olaf Erz, Country Manager Zambia for IICD. “ Additionally, Atos Learning Solutions’ eLearning tool is capable of training and supporting more local partners to self-evaluate and manage project progress.”

Shared goals
The cooperation between Atos Origin Learning Solutions and IICD seamlessly integrates into both organisations’ activities. IICD supports local organisations in nine countries in Africa and Latin America in developing practical and durable solutions for fighting poverty and improving the quality of basic facilities including education, healthcare and governance. The solutions are based on both modern multimedia solutions – computers, internet, e-mail – and traditional channels including radio and television. Atos Origin Learning Solutions is a business unit specialised in the development of training and educational solutions. This expertise provides significant added value for an organisation like IICD, who believe that local ability to apply knowledge and information is the key to sustainable development in developing countries.

“This agreement is part of an initiative by the Atos Origin Corporate Sustainability Program, and provides fantastic possibilities for implementing our service provision in projects focused on improving living conditions in developing countries. Additionally, cooperation allows our consultants to apply their skills under circumstances completely unlike those we are used to in the West. I have the utmost confidence that we will be able to offer actual added value to IICD’s ambition to implement information technology for sustainable development in these regions”, according to Richard Kerssens, Executive Vice President Systems Integration at Atos Origin.