Basic ICT skills training | only one piece of the puzzle for employment

There are a wide variety of factors that affect the employment opportunities of low-skilled and unemployed groups. As I discussed in a previous blog, trying to map all these factors is fruitless since it is very difficult to pin point what factor - or combination of factors - was more influential for achieving positive employment outcomes and the extent to which the experience of one individual can be extrapolated to represent an entire group.

For the research conducted in Washington State, we wanted to know specifically the contribution of ICT skills training program to promote employment outcomes. However, since ICT skills training is one of many employment-related training and services that workforce organizations provide, it is necessary to expand a bit the array of variables to paint a more comprehensive picture of the contribution of these programs to employment outcomes. In few words, we need to put the contribution of ICT skills training to employability in perspective.

NGOs and public agencies working on workforce development usually provide a wide array of services and types of training to up-skill and/or re-skill unemployed groups. The basket of services these organizations provide depend on the target group they work with, the resources available, the organizations' social mission, the locality, and the barriers to employment that their beneficiaries face, to name a few. For example, an NGO that serves immigrant communities would have a bigger emphasis on language training, appropriate housing, cultural integration, etc., than an organization that works with dislocated workers laid off because of the closure of a local manufacturing plant.

The different methods and channels used to provide the training and services also vary across organizations. In my experience working with organizations in Washington State, I found three somewhat distinct types of service-provision:

1. Organizations that provide all the training and services in-house
2. Organizations that function as intermediaries or referrals for unemployed individuals and provide bridges to partners for different types of training and services
3. Organizations that provide some training in-house and partner with other organizations to expand the basket of services available for their beneficiaries

The types of service provision are not always so clear cut. In many instances, organizations that provide all the training and services in-house look for partnerships with Community Colleges, for example, to provide longer term career paths to unemployed individuals. Regardless of the methods and channels used, there are certain employment-training and services that are available across all the organizations. Basic adult education, basic ICT skills training, job search tools and online applications, preparation of CVs and interviews, language training, industry-specific training (welding, office assistant, bank teller, etc), and different ways for connecting to employers are among the most commonly available.

Although employment outcomes are not only determined by the types of services and training available, it is important to understand that regardless of the mission, target group, and partners all the organizations interviewed for this study recognized that ICT skills training, albeit crucial, is only one piece of the puzzle to improve the opportunities for low-skilled, older workers, and long-term unemployed individuals in today's labor market. There is no techno-centric approach to employability among these organizations in Washington State and that is a fact.

ICT skills training and employment outcomes in Washington State | A brief note on the methodology

A couple of blogs ago, I briefly described the project we are working on in Washington State. We surveyed people who participated in ICT skills training between 2007-2008 at the organizations we selected in Washington State (NGOs, One-Stop shops, and Community Colleges). In total, we have 464 people in our sample representing five metropolitan areas in the State: Seattle, Spokane, Bellingham, Mount Vernon, and to a lesser extent Tacoma. Most of the people who responded to our survey have a high school diploma (42%), the rest continued to either 2 year (26%) or 4 year college (22%). The vast majority are women with an average age of 48 years old.

As in any other research, there are many limitations in this study that are worth discussing even if briefly. In the spirit of transparency and open research, the main limitations follow:

• The sample is not representative of the population in Washington State nor it represents the universe of people that benefit from the services provided at these organizations
• The ICT skills training, although basic, is designed and implemented in different ways and it varies in lenght, content, and teaching/learning approach.
• People were asked in the survey to self-assess their ICT skills level
• The motivations of trainees are very different (some enroll in the training by choice, others are required due to unemployment insurance benefits)

With this in mind, we confront the first research question head on: Did ICT skills training improve the employment opportunities of the people in our study? Did they find employment after the training, and if so, what can help us explain this positive outcome?

Lessons from Riga | Networks are about personal relations and trust

There are so many interesting things that happened during these two days of the Telecenters Forum... many lessons and ways for the network to move forward. The most relevant learning I am taking with me back to Seattle is that networks are about people who care for each other personally, first and foremost.

It is difficult to convey in few words how relevant this lesson is. Networks, as a form of organization, do not provide much value if personal relations, trust, and care for each other at a more deeper level is not present in a group. During these two days became very evident that we see value on a European network because the people who are part of it at this stage care for each other as individuals first, and community leaders and e-inclusion advocates second.

For networks to be valuable there needs to be a commitment to put that bit of extra effort, extra hours of work to share, learn, and take advantage of each other's experiences. All of that exist simply because we consider each other friends and care about each other's work. Competition is not a word that you will find in this group, and I am very happy to see that.

From Barcelona, to Riga, to wherever else this initiative takes us we must have this lesson very present: we are friends, we trust each other, and we want each other's project to succeed just as our own.

Telecenter Leaders Forum in Riga | building a network for collaboration in Europe

My work has brought me once again to this wonderful city for a gathering of Telecenter leaders representing almost every country in the European Union + some others. The effort to bring together organizations from around the EU working on e-inclusion programs started last year in Barcelona. In this second meeting of this nascent EU telecenters network these organizations will discuss ways to strengthen collaboration, establish venues to learn from each other, and find a common voice to promote this programs among governments and the private sector.

60 people, 43 organizations representing 23 countries from the European Union + 3 North American + 2 Mexicans. Old friends, new friends, all together discussing for two days the opportunities for collaboration and networking. With Riga as the setting... what else could we ask for!!

Building your trainers ICT skills | ECDL certificate as an alternative for train of trainer programs

Having qualified trainers is one of the most important elements of e-skills training programs, this is well known, not really rocket science. However, the way that NGOs approach train of trainer (TOT) programs really varies depending on the needs of the target population, the social mission of the organization, the availability of human capital (i.e. trainers willing to improve their skills if necessary), and the resources available to train them.

Some NGOs develop their own TOT programs combining a variety of skills (e-skills, teaching methodology for groups with special needs, cultural sensitivity, etc). Others, use readily available e-skills training programs that lead to official certification, and this is the case of LIKTA and its NGO partners in Latvia. LIKTA provides resources to its NGO partners for train the trainer programs that require trainers to become ECDL (European Computer Driver LIcense) certified, ensuring not only the quality of the trainers that the partners recruit, but offering also an incentive for them to build ICT skills that are transferable to the broader labor market.

For many trainers, the income they receive for teaching e-skills to underserved populations is an additional income aside to their every day jobs. For others, working with NGOs as trainers is the main and sole source of income they bring home. In either case, improving trainers quality and ability to teach while providing an incentive such an ECDL certificate, which by the way is expensive and out of the reach to many,is definitely a very wise strategy:

• It is a smart use of NGO resources: time and money | instead of channeling resources to develop the actual ICT skills component of TOT - no need to reinvent the wheel
• NGOs end up with qualified trainers with transferable skills in the labor market (either currently employed outside the NGO, or building experience for future employment)

NGOs working with a variety of groups (disabled, elderly, etc.) can bring "expert" trainers that help these groups with "specialized" teaching approaches. LIKTA's partner in Ventpils, the Digital Center, provides training for deaf and blind or visually impaired people using this strategy and, as the NGO director reported, they think it is a successful approach.

Some food for thought...

Field research in Latvia | e-inclusion projects in Preili and Ventspils

On Wednesday and Thursday during our visit to Latvia, we had the opportunity to travel to the southern and western provinces of this country. Since there are many commonalities between the two e-inclusion projects, I decided to write about them jointly and point in separate posts to unique features of the e-skills training programs of these organizations. First, a brief intro to Preili and Ventspils, as we all know locality matters.

On Wednesday, we traveled to Southern Latvia to visit one of LIKTA's partner the Society Preili NGO centre, in a beautiful town called Preili located in the Latgale region. This region was declared one of the poorest in the newly expanded European Union, and similar to what we witnessed in Bialystok, Poland, the lack of opportunities has caused a significant migration of the workforce to Ireland and the UK. The region main economic activity is agriculture and of the most important sources of jobs is a big dairy farm, located at the heart of the city. This region has a strong Russian population

On Thursday, field research took us to Western Latvia to Ventpils, a beautiful port city located in the Kurzeme region and in the only part of the Baltic Sea that doesn't freeze during the winter. The city is also known for its Universities which attract a large population of students from all over the country. We visited the Digital Center of Ventspils. The city's main economic activities revolve around the port, the Universities, a chemical plant, and some small and medium enterprises.

During these two days, we interviewed NGO staff, trainers, and trainees. We visited the training facilities, and another important ICT public access point: libraries

Cultural Note 4 Revisited: On women in Latvia

I must say, this is the first time that I visit a country were women are the center of any possible activity in society. I've heard about women in Latvia been much more active in different economic, social, and every day circles than men... this is an understatement. I've never been surrounded by so many motivated women eager to always improve themselves, find the next thing, and been completely outgoing and outspoken. I must be honest, I loved it!!

I shared with you before how hard was for me to engage men in conversation while doing the interviews for the research. Well, with women I didn't have that problem and actually the problem became having enough time to capture their experiences and motivation with the e-skills training, enough time to capture their stories. I tried my best.

I asked during my interviews why women seem to be more active than men and more willing to learn new things and a I got a wide range of responses influenced, of course, by people's own stories and personal experiences. However, my interpreter Gatis, a very nice smart men by the way, explained to me that during Soviet times the collectivization of work brought women into spheres that were solely dominated by men (factories, farms, etc).

The Soviets even created an award called The Labor Hero to be granted to all those men and women whose hard work - work as in labor - had made a difference in their communities.The younger generation of women for whom the Soviet occupation is a historical memory are taken this full participation to heart too.

In the centers we visited during our research, almost all the trainees, trainers, and NGO workers were women of all ages. All of those demanding the NGOs to provide more e-skills training programs were women. There is something about labor heroes, I guess. Once again, the advantage of having good interpreters and local friends for that cultural immersion!

(My thanks to Katya Fedotova for the correction on my note)

Understanding LIKTA's work on e-inclusion | The project Latvia@World

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to meet with Mara Jacobsone and her team at the LIKTA office in Riga. The Latvian Information and Communications Technology Association (LIKTA) is a professional NGO that encompasses the ICT industry and ICT professionals. Established in 1998, LIKTA works to promote the development of the information society, ICT education and e-skills, and to encourage the growth of the ICT industry. LITKA represents over 80 organizations from the ICT industry, research, and educational institutions.

Of particular relevance for our discussion on e-skills and employability is LIKTA's initiative Latvia@World. The goal of this initiative is to provide opportunities for different undeserved groups to acquire the basic skills needed for using computers and the Internet while strengthening social networks at the local and national level through participation and cooperation. Within this e-inclusion initiative, LIKTA partners with local social organizations in different regions of the country providing them with training materials and train-of-trainer programs to build the e-capacity of these organizations. During this field research, we will have the opportunity to visit LIKTA's social partners and learn more about their work in two locations: Preili, in southern Latvia and Ventspils, a port town in the west side of the country.

Something that is worth mentioning is that LIKTA is an special kind of NGO since through their work the organization is able to reach and bring together three different spheres that affect significantly e-inclusion initiatives: 1) The social organizations or NGOs sphere; 2) The private sector sphere; and 3) The government sphere. Finding ways in which these three spheres intersect is very unique of the work LIKTA does.

The details of these intersections will become more clear in the next posts

Fighting misperceptions about disabled people in society and in the labor market | key component of employability programs

The active participation of NGOs in promotion campaigns that help society and the labor market change their perceptions about what disabled people can accomplish, may seem as a small step forward towards reaching employability goals, but it is actually a very important one. Similar to what we learned in Poland, for a long time disabled people were not given the same educational and work opportunities because of the misconception of what they can achieve as citizens and in their professional life.

Changing these misconceptions is crucial for opening the much needed doors to the labor market. Through campaigns, awareness workshops, and active participation in policy discussions organizations like Apeirons create a more welcoming and enabling environment for disabled people in the job market. In Latvia there is a wide spread problem of people drinking and driving and becoming disabled because of car crash accidents. The problem is endemic and wide spread and through prevention campaigns organization not only fight prejudice against disabled people but also help prevent one of the main causes for people becoming disabled. I can't underscore enough the importance of comprehensive approaches at all levels. No contribution is small!

These are some of the posters for an awareness campaign that Apeirons organized together with Art Students here in Riga:

Mobility and Independence for Disabled People





Drink, Drive, and Join the Club











More pictures of the poster exhibition are in my flickr

The work of Apeirons | providing e-skills and employability programs for disabled people the Latvian way

On Monday, I had the opportunity to visit Apeirons and learn about the work this organization is doing on the area of e-skills training and employability for disabled people. Although this connection between e-skills and employment is the focus of this research, it is not possible to discuss this connection without understanding the broad range of activities that organizations like Apeirons do to integrate into society people with physical disabilities.

As I mentioned, Apeirons has a range of programs but there are three that are particularly relevant to the area of employability:

1. The organization provides e-skills training (basic and advanced) in their location here in Riga, but it also reaches smaller cities and rural population through its Mobile Classroom that was donated by HP.
2. Apeirons is an official certifier for accessibility standards in offices, buildings, etc. The government recently enacted a mandate for all new buildings in the country to be accessible for disabled people and the organization works with architects to certified these accessibility standards. It also works with other NGOs to help them improve and adapt physical spaces to make them accessible.
3. The organization developed an innovative online data base for people looking for employment where job-seekers and employers have the opportunity to learn about each other. A very interesting component of this data base is the use of video clips of the job seekers where people with disabilities introduce themselves, their interests, and disclose to employers the type of disability they have.

Similar to what we learned with the Foundation Supporting Mathematicians and IT Specialists in Poland, e-inclusion and e-skills programs for disabled people that incorporate employability goals work with an integrated approach that allows the organization to provide needed skills, improve access and work conditions making job spaces more adequate for the needs of disabled people, and connect job-seekers with employers. Once again, an integrated approach is the way to go.