The Partnership for Lebanon launches TAWASOL, the “Summer ICT Boot Camp for Youth”

TAWASOL: Together towards a connected community and an engaged civil society

Beirut, August 16th 2008: As part of its efforts to utilize ICT as a bridge for social and economic development in Lebanon, the Partnership for Lebanon launched an ICT Summer Camp for youth, named TAWASOL.  The camp was organized and implemented by PCA (Professional Computer Association) and IJMA3 with the collaboration of ICTDAR (Information and Communication Technology for Development in the Arab Region). 

TAWASOL took place at the University of Balamand from August 16th to August 24th 2008, gathering 70 youth between 14-17 years old from across Lebanon. 

The ICT Summer Camp is the first of its kind in Lebanon, and will use a multi-disciplinary approach in bringing youth together to equip them not only with the technical skills they need to succeed in the future, but also the confidence to apply those skills in the future towards participation in a peaceful and engaged civil society. More importantly, the camp will prepare a new generation of leaders to think creatively and utilize ICT for personal development, while at the same time empowering them to harness ICT to overcome societal divides and to increase cooperation within communities.

To reach these objectives, a unique socially-oriented approach to ICT education was implemented, in addition to skills-based technical instruction, fun, and sports activities. The young participants took part in online consensus-building activities, and learned about human-rights based notions of citizenship, and other social skills such as tolerance, respect for diversity, leadership, and engagement within the local communities. A special emphasis was placed upon educating young women about the opportunities available to them in the IT sector, traditionally male-dominated industry. Female leaders from the academic and business sectors shared their experiences in overcoming barriers and breaking down stereotypes to achieve success.

George Akiki, Program Director of the Partnership for Lebanon at Cisco, elaborated: “We believe that technology is crucial to improve the lives of the Lebanese youth. Trainings received in activities like the ICT Boot Camp will enable youth to acquire the skills they need to be the future business leaders of Lebanon, giving them the knowledge and training to compete in a fast-moving marketplace”. And he added: The success of the program was only made possible with the passion and outstanding efforts of the two reputable NGOs: Ijma3 and Mercycorps. Without them, this vision wouldn’t have become reality”.

The success of the ICT Summer Camp model lays the foundation for future iterations of training workshops and cooperation activities, building up a new generation of youth able to harness the benefits of ICT towards creating a better Lebanon.

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