NEWS
Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation celebrates five years of commitment to the Caribbean region
The Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation ( CWCF ) is celebrating five years of partnership with local , regional and international agencies and a total of US $ 3.5 million in donations providing digital access and supporting relief and recovery initiatives throughout the Caribbean , with the release of its 2022 Annual Report .
Inge Smidts , Chair of the CWCF Board , said : “ The Foundation was established out of a response to natural disasters in 2017 and has since evolved from reacting to natural disasters , like Hurricanes Maria , Irma and Dorian , into a philanthropic organization that ’ s proactively expanding access , providing connectivity and enhancing education for people we serve across the region .”
Both programs were funded by the CWCF and executed in collaboration with the Flow Foundation and its partners – the Mona School of Business and Management at the University of the West Indies for the digital and data literacy element and One on One Educational Services for the digital training and professional certification element .
Cementing this shift in focus , the Foundation also marked its fiveyear anniversary with the successful completion of a pilot program in Jamaica focused on digital education for individuals aged 16 to 60 years old .
Under this program , over 2,000 Jamaicans successfully completed basic digital literacy training with more than 830 going on to graduate with a certificate in digital and data literacy . Another 3,875 Jamaicans also attained certification in various professional courses .
Public institutions in Peru benefit from Cusco Broadband Project
During a technical visit to the project ’ s transport NOC , the Pronatel executive director detailed that this includes 424 schools , 147 health posts and 44 police stations , all of which are digitally connected and utilize technological tools for tele-education , telehealth and citizen security .
He also noted that for the operation of this broadband project , 2,109 kilometres of fibre optic cable were deployed , which has also enabled the implementation of 71 Wi-Fi hotspots , providing free Internet access from personal devices to beneficiaries .
“ This project has also given us the opportunity to support the return to classes of our students in rural areas , as we have donated more than 4,000 tablets to the regional government for distribution to the project ’ s beneficiary schools ,” he said .
Since its launch in 2021 , the Cusco Broadband Project in Peru has been connecting 615 public institutions , located in 371 beneficiary population centres in the Cusco region , to the Internet – according to Renato Delgado Flores , Executive Director of the National Telecommunications Program ( Pronatel ).
He also commented that other initiatives in the region include Digital Access Centres ( CAD ) and Public Digital Access Spaces ( EPAD ), which allow for the continued promotion of digital literacy and inclusion for more citizens in remote areas without access to the Internet .
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