19 March 2009
Discover the World of IT Technologies
K.D. Ushinsky Academic Research Library in Moscow hosted the first Microsoft NGO Day conference where Microsoft announced its intention to expand partnership with Russian NGOs. The conference was attended by leaders and IT specialists from a number of Russian non-profits.
“For many years Microsoft has been giving grants to Russian NGOs involved in projects addressing the digital gap,” said Nikolay Pryanishnikov, President of Microsoft Russia. “Only in the last three years Microsoft has invested more than a million dollars into its Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program in Russia. The largest in the program is Information Dissemination and Equal Aссess (IDEA) Project, and for the year 2009 Microsoft has pledged close to half a million dollars into its implementation and further dissemination of its experience.”
The IDEA Project’s mission is to provide underserved population groups with training in basic computer and Internet skills as well as supplementary seminars and consultations in job search skills to increase their employability and competitive advantage on the labor market.
Now in its fourth year, the IDEA Project was launched and has been facilitated in Russia by PH International. Currently it operates fifty-eight IDEA Centers in fifty two RF cities – centers which provide free ICT training and Internet access and serve as sites for various social initiatives. IDEA alumni receive certificates of the Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program, a tangible advantage in job search, highly valued by employers.
”Thanks to the Project, more than 50,000 people have received ICT training in IDEA Centers, and many of our alumni have gone on to getting better and more prestigious jobs. In addition to this, more than 250,000 people have taken advantage of free services provided by IDEA Centers,” says Yekaterina Fedotova, IDEA Project director.
With the development of IT technologies, NGOs throughout the country have long begun to feel the need for modern work tools. “Many NGOs, especially smaller ones, are severely limited in their resources, and modern ICT technologies are often beyond their reach,” explains Nikolay Pryanishnikov. “That’s why Microsoft has come came up with InfoDonor, the Program of technological support for Russian non-profits, becoming its first and, as of this moment, only donor. Under this program, we have committed ourselves to donating millions of dollars worth of software to Russian NGOs every year.”
InfoDonor was officially launched at the Microsoft NGO Day conference. Thanks to this new program, many Russian non-profits will gain access to latest Russian and foreign software products at minimum cost.
InfoDonor will be facilitated by the Institute of the Information Society (IIS), a well established independent Russian research and service NGO. “InfoDonor will optimize NGOs’ spending on ICT tools, crucial for increasing NGOs’ efficiency but often prohibitive in terms of their cost. It will also maximize the potential of NGOs’ information infrastructure and increase their ICT literacy and culture,” stated Tatyana Yershova, director general of IIS.
The conference participants were introduced to Microsoft products and technologies for increasing NGOs’ operational efficiency, including Unified Communication platform which simplifies and integrates various flows, forms and media of communication, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a tool that takes interaction with clients to an entirely new level, and Microsoft Silverlight, a web browser plugin that enables features characterizing rich Internet presentation.
The media sponsors of the Microsoft NGO Day conference were Business and Society and Charity in Russia magazines and the Agency for Social Information.