On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), InWEnt gGmbH is carring out the “Information Technology in African Business (it@ab)” further education project in the Southern Africa Development Corporation (SADC) Region.

In this framework, InWEnt gGmbH has assigned the Deutsche Telekom AG represented by T-Punkt Business Freiburg with the professional IT-training of 21 IT-Specialists from seven Southern African countries (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia). The training programme consists of professional training embedded in a blended learning approach (online and face-to-face training) with the respective tutorial guidance and coaching – initially held in English but also gradually building German skills – for the period October 2004 to September 2005.

Objectives of the Training Programme

• Transfer of know-how required for high qualified economic IT-consultancy especially in the area of open source software solutions.
• Methodological and practical preparation of the junior consultants for their professional activities as consultants and trainers.
• Support for the implementation of the individually proposed e-Projects designed by the participants.
• The participants have to be qualified in the handling and marketing of the existing network product which consists of a Blended Learning Product of about 600 hours and a Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE).
• Selected product managers have to be qualified and certified to be able to adjust the available Blended Learning Product for their own context.
• To build and reinforce solid contact networks in Germany.
• To impart the necessary authoring knowledge for webpublishing.

Structure of the IT-Training Programme

The IT-Training Programme is related to the concept of ”Blended Learning”. Blended Learning is a participant oriented approach which combines different learning environments like web-based and face-to-face training, hands-on training, self-controlled learning, workshops, practical internships or individual coaching.

it@ab - Advanced Training Programme - Business related IT Consultancy

German Language Course
The Training Programme starts with a full-time German Language Training in the Carl Duisberg Centre Saarbrücken. This course aims to prepare the IT-Specialists for the internship in German Enterprises and Institutions as well as to serve as contact between African and German Enterprises and Institutions.

Web-Based Training
During the first eight months, the IT-Specialists will attend a Web-Based Training course with online modules on a variety of topics. These online modules are hosted at the InWEnt Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) and aim to complement and go further in-depth into the topics of the Face-to-Face Training.

Face-to-face Training
The Face-to-Face Training will start in March 2005 at T-Punkt Business Freiburg. The T-Punkt Business training center is equiped with high end infrastructure like fast DSL lines, firewalled LAN and secure WLAN. During three months the IT-Specialists will have 40 hours of training or coaching per week, provided by more than 20 IT-Experts coming from various Enterprises and Universities.

Contents of the IT-Training Programme

The thread leading throughout the the whole IT-Training Programme is the use of Open-Source-Solutions (OSS). Open Source is a future topic for InWEnt in Africa and Asia. The ”Study about using appropriate Open Source Software in Africa and Asia” carried out by InWEnt contains detailed information about the adventages and strategies.

The topics of the IT-Training Programme are the following:

• IT-Technology
• Web Publishing
• eBusiness
• IT-Security
• Zope/CLE2/Python
• eDevelopment and eReadiness
• eLearning
• IT-Project Management
• IT-Consultancy
• eHealth: Management of eHealth Services and HIV
• eBusiness Applications
• ePayment
• eBusiness Information from the Internet
• eLaw
• Internet Criminality

Workshops, Fairs and Events
The IT-Training Programme is supplemented by visits of computer fairs (CeBIT, Linuxtag), workshops with Open-Source-Experts and trips to Treuchtlingen (a town migrating to OSS) and to the University of Cooperative Education Lörrach (Workshop in Wardriving). Another excursion will lead to the Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law.

E-Projects
Every IT-Specialist has his/her own e-Project which she or he aims to achieve during the sojourn in Germany. The Web-Based and Face-to-Face Training is intended to provide the necessary theoretical background. Additionally, every IT-Specialist is supported by his/her own Coach who supports the progress of the project.

The IT-Specialilsts are divided into the following e-Project Groups:

• Content Management System / DataBase
• E-Learning
• IT-Security
• Portal / Content Management System

Internship
After the IT-Training Programme, the junior consultants attend a ten-week practical internship in a German Enterprise or in Universities, Colleges or Research Institutes. The content of the practical internship is related to the issues that the IT-Specialists choose in their e-Projects and aims to improve these projects.

Not only the topic itself but also the intensity with which it is considered in the concept of the training programme correlates with the actual and prognostic importance according to our experience in IT-consultancy and the ICT-markets of SADC.

Program Topics International Management Training

Practice-based economic know-how, communication skills, social competence, team ability, networked thinking and creativity are basic requirements for executives nowadays. Attached to the professional Course the I.M.T is the final stage in the further education program. The three-week training program is focussing on enabling the participants to apply the knowledge acquired in Germany when working in their home countries. The objective is to enhance the participants' professional career and to enable them to successfully act and work as a change agent and multiplier after the training.

Certificate

The Training Programme finishes with an official certificate awarded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development including a supplementary sheet concerning the detailed contents of the advanced training provided by InWEnt and the Deutsche Telekom AG.

Contact:
InWEnt gGmbH / Cologne
Frau Petra Hagemann
Petra.Hagemann@inwent.org

Contact:
T-Punkt Business Freiburg
Bernd Grunwald
bernd.grunwald@t-punkt.de