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CONTENTS

1. New in the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse: REDtone "Alternative Payphones," Youth Internship Program, and China: Bridging the Within-Country Digital Divide

2. Resource Marketplace: Eight New Resources Added

3. Special Opportunities: Stockholm Challenge Award 2003/2004 and Global Junior Challenge 2004

1. New in the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse: REDtone "Alternative Payphones," Youth Internship Program, and China: Bridging the Within-Country Digital Divide

Six new projects have been added to the Clearinghouse since our last edition of the Digest. Among the highlights are:

REDtone "Alternative Payphones": REDtone Telecommunications plans to install 10,000 of its "alternative payphones" nationwide in Bangladesh this year as it strives to bridge the digital divide between the rural and urban areas. The phones allow users to make IDD, STD, and mobile calls at discounted rates, which can be as high as 70% off normal call rates.

Youth Internship Program: Driven by a shortage of skilled labor in the IT sector, SETA has partnered with the Trade and Industry Department and six private companies to provide training and job opportunities to successful graduates of the training program. Disadvantaged youth between 18 and 30 are targeted through the program, which lasts one year. All of the successful students from the first year's pilot program were offered full-time employment upon graduation.

China: Bridging the Within-Country Digital Divide: A large-scale UNESCO initiative, this project is aimed at bridging the digital divide between the more prosperous eastern regions and the comparatively less-developed western regions in China. The project will provide technical and IT curriculum development training to school administrators and teachers, donation of computers and technical equipment to schools, and networking, project evaluation, and dissemination of learning to relevant stakeholders throughout China.

2. New Resource Highlights

At Digital Dividends, we receive many requests for help identifying sources of funding, free computers and software, Web development assistance, and other resources. The Resource Marketplace highlights some of the most useful resources within and outside of the Clearinghouse that help address these needs. The resources listed are intended to be useful to very broad audiences, and have been divided into eleven categories: agriculture, business and e-commerce support, community development, education, hardware, health, microfinance, project support, software, telecenters, and Web development. Eight new resources have been added to the Marketplace. Highlights include:

"Ten Steps for Establishing Multipurpose Community Telecenters" is a new UNESCO publication to assist communities in establishing, operating, and managing sustainable Multipurpose Community Telecenters (MCTs).

PANTOTO is a customizable "online community builder" aimed at supporting real communities by giving them the cybertools necessary to develop well-organized information repositories to make networking and knowledge-sharing more effective and meaningful.

The Collaborative Tools Evaluation Site is designed to help distance educators and their students to select appropriate methods of course development and delivery.

If you know of resources that should be included in the Resource Marketplace, please e-mail us

3. Special Opportunities: Stockholm Challenge Award 2003/2004 and Global Junior Challenge 2004

The Stockholm Challenge, a unique awards program for pioneering IT projects worldwide, is now open for project submissions. The competition rewards projects that benefit people, society, and the environment in their local context through innovative approaches. Projects may enter in one of six categories: e-government, culture, health, education, e-business, and environment. The contest is open for submissions until November 1, 2003, and finalists will be announced on February 2, 2004.

Global Junior Challenge 2004 is now open for project submissions. This year's competition features a new category, Women and Equal Opportunities, for projects focused on realizing equal opportunities between women and men in every sphere of professional life. The other two main topics of the competition are bridging the digital divide, and the innovative use of new technologies in the education and training of youth. The mailing deadline is December 31, 2003.