Asia-Pacific

UNITeS Volunteer Services Programme: From Orissa to Bhutan
Orissa was the first project supported by UNITeS, a global UN volunteer initiative to help bridge the digital divide. UNITeS Volunteers work to build capacity in developing countries on the uses and opportunities of ICTs for human development. Since the launch of the Orissa project, UNITeS ICT volunteers have undertaken a variety of ICT projects in developing countries, from helping Mongolian herders use the Internet to obtain prices and weather information, to setting up community telecentres to help Bedouin women connect with healthcare information and nonprofit women's organizations, to helping develop a strategy to link thousands of students and teachers in secondary schools in Botswana with their counterparts in other countries, for collaborative research, teaching and learning programmes.

So far, 35 UNITeS volunteers have taken assignments in developing countries, including Benin, Botswana, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Ecuador, India, Namibia, Jordan, South Africa, Tanzania, Bhutan, Mongolia and Chile. There are additional budgeted volunteer assignments due to be filled shortly, and committed volunteers are being added regularly. UNITeS hopes to be a reference for other organisations who want to support and promote ICT volunteers working to assist in international human development, showing how volunteers can have a key role in bridging the digital divide, how volunteers can create a knowledge base and how a mix of online and onsite volunteers can benefit development.

Right to Know - Using multimedia to help youth understand AIDS
With young people aged 15 to 24 now the fastest growing group of AIDS victims, accounting for half of all new infections worldwide, AIDS has become a disease of the young. By making young people key players in the design, evaluation, and implementation of HIV/AIDS communication strategies, the Right to Know initiative aims to develop effective ways to provide young people with information about HIV/AIDS, and help them reduce their risk of infection.

Themes of RTK include: the centrality of youth participation, positive, relevant messages as part of a communication strategy, an emphasis on life skills through linkages with UNICEF and other organisational programmes, the promotion of youth-friendly services through partnerships, and youth mobilisation and advocacy to help create supportive environments.

Strategies include the use of multimedia (television, radio, print, theatre), as well as advocacy work and social mobilisation efforts. A global advocacy campaign is also being developed to bring the messages and methods of Right to Know to the global level. By engaging world leaders and mobilising widespread support, the global campaign will help put young people on government agendas, help increase funding for HIV/AIDS programmes, forge global and cross-sectoral alliances, and strengthen the global effort to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people.

The Digital Vision Fellowship Programme
A group of researchers at Stanford University is doing more than just generating ideas about how to make technology accessible and relevant in developing nations - they're turning their ideas into realities for many underserved communities around the world. Under the Digital Vision Fellowship programme, fellows work with nonprofits and foundations familiar with the targeted regions, in order to undertake a project that explores the utility of ICTs in addressing developing world problems.

Projects have a practical emphasis, including Reuters Foundation's AlertNet - an online community of 170 international disaster relief NGOs in 34 countries - and visiting the affected areas. The flexibility of the Programme makes it possible for fellows to use their creativity in determining the nature of the project and its practical aims with guidance from the Programme Director.

Each year, the Programme accepts applications from technology visionaries around the world, sponsoring up to 12 company-sponsored or independent fellows, and pays for costs associated with each fellowship, including tuition fees, project equipment costs, and travel grants awarded to each fellow to make field trips to the developing world. In addition, Reuters Foundation offers one fully-funded fellowship each year to a candidate from the developing world. This candidate receives a stipend to cover living, housing and travel costs, in addition to the benefits listed above. Applications are encouraged from visionary technologists from around the world; and particularly those with family or close ties in areas of the developing world.