GFDD and FUNGLODE Launched Virtual Educa Caribe During Inter-American Forum on New Technologies

The Inter-American Forum on New Technologies was inaugurated April 25, 2006, with an opening event in which President Fernández and the First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández were present, as well as the Ministers of Education and Higher Education of
the Dominican Republic, Alejandrina Germán and Ligia Amada Melo, respectively. José María Antón, Secretary General of Virtual Educa addressed the audience and opened the Forum. Delegates from the areas of Education and Technology from Latin America and Spain also attended the event.

Virtual Educa Caribe, with
headquarters in the Dominican Republic, was launched in Santo Domingo as part of this Forum being held in FUNGLODE. Virtual Educa is an innovative initiative in education, professional training and continuing education providing a space for the exchange of experiences, success stories, and to design projects associated with the impact that IT has in our society.

The Inter-American Forum on New Technologies Virtual Educa Caribe 2006 will present during two days the experiences of private corporations all across America, showing how the use of technologies can create jobs and enhance the country’s development. Corporate initiatives from Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela and Spain will be explored during the Forum.

The Forum includes a series of presentations, to be held at FUNGLODE Auditorium, with the main objective to support initiatives contributing to the expansion of the economy and creating new jobs through the use of ICTs. Some of the presentations and panel discussions of the Forum include "Successful networks between NGOs, private and public sectors for quality education", "ICT trainings for employment", "Introducing ICTs as
part of community development", "Portals as a support for education and information transfer", "Internet II: Tele-education in the 21st Century", "Technological training as a development tool: successful cases", "Importance of audiovisual resources in human resources trainings", "Tele-medicine", among others. The Forum also include some workshops, including one on Digital
Classrooms.

High officials from the education and technology fields, entrepreneurs, teachers, professors, and students, will be the main participants on the Forum, which will also focus in the analysis of corporate social responsibility aspects.

Collaborating institutions in this event are: the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (INDOTEL), the National Committee on Competitiveness (CNC), the Presidential Office for Information and Communication Technologies (OPTIC), the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (SEESCYT), the Ministry of Education (SEE), and Las Americas Technological Institute (ITLA). Also Alianza ONG, EDUCA, Microsoft Corporation,