Recognizing the potential of students and youth to contribute to national and regional development efforts, APCICT has initiated the ‘Turning Today’s Youth into Tomorrow’s Leaders’ programme. This umbrella programme seeks to impart key knowledge of ICT for Development (ICTD) to students and youth. As a part of this programme, APCICT has developed a project that aims to create a cadre of future leaders equipped with the capacity to use ICTs for achieving development goals. This is proposed to be accomplished through enhanced coverage of ICT for Development (ICTD) in undergraduate and graduate programmes at universities in the Asia-Pacific region. Under this project the ‘Primer Series on ICTD for Youth’ (Primer Series) was created.
The Primer Series aims to serve as a tool to help educators fill the gap in ICTD coverage in universities. It is composed of multiple issues addressing a range of topics in ICTD. This series is intended for students from both technical and non-technical backgrounds, and is flexible enough for use in different national contexts. The Primer Series was officially launched through a Training of Trainers workshop organized in Azerbaijan, in February 2012.
What does the Primer Series Cover?
Primer Series 1 - An Introduction to ICT for Development, introduces basic concepts of ICTs and their role in meeting socio-economic development goals.
Primer Series 2 - Project Management and ICTD provides fundamental concepts and tools of project planning and management, looking into the use of ICTs, and tools and techniques in managing ICT for development projects.
Primer Series 3 - ICT for Disaster Risk Management discusses the basic concepts of ICTs and their role and applications in disaster risk management, and it aims to foster a better understanding of how ICTs can be applied effectively in disaster risk management.
Primer Series 4 - ICT, Climate Change and Green Growth introduces students to basic concepts of ICTs and their role in responding to climate change, while giving case studies on ICT applications.
Primer Series 5 - Exploring Social Media's Role in Development aims to equip students with a good understanding of the different types of social media; introduce how social media is used in society as well as in social development, economic growth, political development and participation, and sustainable development; enhance their understanding of the drawbacks in using social media; and, provide good understanding of the safe and productive use of social media.
Primer Series: Monitoring and Evaluation Guidebook aims to provide partners with practical guidance on capturing the progress and impact of their Primer implementation.
In order to offer students knowledge resources on a range of key topics in ICT for development, APCICT is developing new issues of the Primer Series on various topics.
Whether ensuring a basic understanding of the linkage between ICT and development, or more specific principles of ICT applications, each Primer will provide a firm understanding of ICT within a development context.
The Primer Series are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License and are available for free download below.
Who is using the Primer Series?
The Primer Series has been rolled out in 14 countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and in two sub-regions, namely ASEAN and the Pacific. Demonstrating local ownership, partner-driven localization of the Primer Series has been completed for Bahasa Indonesia, Mongolian, Russian and Tajik.
