Project Management
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Background
Digital Opportunity Trust is an international organization with headquarters in Canada. The main area of expertise of the organization is providing youth-oriented educational services worldwide, especially in developing countries of Asia and Africa. In order to provide its services, the Trust has organized a system of DOT Interns recruited among young residents of the developing counties for the purpose of effective and time-savvy distance education. The Trust has established valued and long-lasting relations with governmental institutions, educational facilities and volunteering organizations, and education of the Ethiopian society is one of the declared priorities of DOT (Hargreaves, p.37).
DOT Interns are educated using the modern technology and mentorship techniques in order to serve as role models and qualified tutors in their countries of residence and spread the knowledge and progress to the community.
In Ethiopia the Trust has official partnership relations with the system of Technical and Vocational Educational Training agencies in order to promote its values and education to the wider groups of the Ethiopian society. The supervisor for the Ethiopian activities of DOT is Mr. Fikre Zewdie, a professional of solid background in education and international activities.
Ethiopia provides multiple and lucrative opportunities for innovative teaching and vocational training. With the population of around 100 million people, this is one of the largest countries in Africa and the most populous landlocked nation in the world. As the human capital is increasingly becoming the greatest value in national economy of all nations, this country has a lot to offer in the future. At the same time, the present condition of Ethiopia and its labor force also present numerous challenges (Mundi):
The population of the country is growing quite rapidly, and it almost tripled for the past 30 years reaching 93 million.
The country is extremely ethnically diverse, comprising of over 10 large ethnic groups with different languages.
The amount of the urban population has been steadily increasing over the past 100 years, yet as of now the number of rural residents is as high as 89% of the total population.
The income per capita remains very low, with 85% of the population living on less than 1 USD per day.
The level of infrastructure remains inadequate to the pressure of the growing population.
The country has a large proportion of young population aged 15-29 with very few educational resources and options that can accommodate its needs.
Summing it up, DOT activities in Ethiopia may have a tremendous effect on the well-being of the nation. Currently the graduated interns of the DOT account for over 5 thousand persons globally, and they assist the total of 1 million members of community all around the globe. According to the figures provided above, Ethiopia would need at least as many Interns within the country borders alone, as the task of assisting the local youth and the community is a complex, yet a very distinguished task. Association with TVET of Ethiopia is the cornerstone of the further success of the program.
The Ethiopian TVET Federal Agency, presided by the State Minister Lemma Wodajo, is responsible for developing and carrying out numerous project related to the improvement of the labor market in Ethiopia, including but not limited to timey analysis of the national labor market demand and supply, development of occupational standards for professional technical and vocational training and jobs, support of private and public TVET institutions nationwide, as well as establishment and fostering of international ties for the benefit of the national labor force (Krishnan et al., p.9). This is the exact area of convergence of interests of the DOT and TVET Agency.
Scope of work
Given the core competencies of each organization involved, they may contribute to the joint effort in a number of ways.
The Federal TVET agency may provide the following services:
Estimate the potential of vocational training demand both nationwide and in the areas of the greatest interest (e.g. large towns and rural communities or the points of projected growth). This measure would allow to draw a map of the training program and avoid the scarcity of efforts.
Determine the particular institutions that may become a pool of applicants for the DOT internship initiative and help develop a program of selection of the fittest candidates.
In association with the local TVET facilities provide the successful candidates with the necessary access to information technologies that are required for the completion of internship.
Arrange further distribution of young specialists to the areas of the highest demand for their newly obtained skills.
The DOT may benefit the Ethiopian society in the following ways:
Provide respective technical and vocational training in an appropriate language of instruction to the selected candidates.
Verify and evaluate the skills obtained by interns throughout the program.
Organize the transfer of knowledge from interns to the local community using previous experience worldwide, and develop respective specific guidelines for Ethiopia.
Based on the advantages and options available to each of the stakeholders of the process, the following stages of the cooperation plan need to be developed and implemented:
Data collection and analysis. TVET Agency and DOT representatives jointly prepare a roadmap for the implementation of the cooperation, determine particular regions and professional areas for advanced training. Given the distribution of the young educated population of Ethiopia, there is a high probability that the interns are to be drawn from large urban areas and effectively functioning educational institutions. On the other hand, the graduates of the internship program may be required nationwide, including underdeveloped and unprivileged rural areas, so a subsequent transfer of graduates may be more than possible. Given the existing diversity of the population, this may be a challenging task.
Prepare the workplaces for the interns and organize their educational process, which should not come at the expense of their regular daily duties. As the instruction will be performed through digital channels, all interns need to have access to the modern ICT infrastructure and possess sufficient knowledge in the language of instruction.
Develop the system of further distribution of knowledge by interns, determine the optimal workload and amount of communal interactions that would benefit the community in the most effective manner.
Provide means to implement the obtained knowledge at the level of a articular community, so that the knowledge obtained by the interns and later transferred to the general public would not be wasted as irrelevant to the daily duties of the population.
Produce a realistic system of evaluation that the joint educational effort may have on the particular communities and the society in general, both in the short run and strategic perspective.
Expected outcome of the joint effort
The immediate results of the joint effort of the TVET Agency and DOT would be the preparation of a certain amount of interns possessing advanced knowledge of technological and vocational resources that may be used for the benefit of the Ethiopian economy. This stands for the first stage of cooperation. As a consequence, the country will obtain a small but effective pool of Western-trained professionals that can carry their knowledge further to the community. The next step consists of two possible options – graduates may join the existing manufacturing and agricultural facilities and spread the knowledge, or they may also participate in the creation of new economic entities. The latter option is more probable to the booming growth of the population and increase in new entities arousing nationwide. While the economic effect of the program is yet to be evaluated, it is already clear that the minor expenses on the development and implementation of the new program are minor compared to the effect that thousands of well-trained and motivated professionals may have on the entire economic system of Ethiopia.
Conclusion
DOT has s long and successful story of creating the atmosphere of innovativeness and professional competitiveness in developing countries, and the organization has already accumulated a considerable experience that can be successfully applied in Ethiopia. Given the energetic support of the Federal TVET Agency and regional TVET facilities, it is possible to create an affordable training program that would involve a considerable amount of young interns and turn them into competent professionals.
References:
Hargreaves, I. (2011). Digital opportunity: a review of intellectual property and growth: an independent report.
Mundi, I. (2016). Ethiopia Demographics Profile (2014).
Krishnan, P., & Shaorshadze, I. (2013). Technical and vocational Education and Training in Ethiopia. Paper for the International Growth Centre–Ethiopia Country Programme.
