The Swedish government established SPIDER to unify the national knowledge resources in the area of ICT and to make them available to developing countries. Behind the Center’s work stand the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, where SPIDER is hosted.
SPIDER, the Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing Regions, supports organizations in developing countries to strengthen their capacities in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT) and to use this tool more effectively. In this context, and recognizing the potential of web-based instructional methods and techniques, SPIDER is supporting a number of participants from Sub-Saharan African countries at the eLearning Africa Conference in May 2006.
The mission of SPIDER is to support developing countries in the promotion and deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with the aim of helping to bridge the digital divide. The center’s goal is to enable those countries to meet the challenges of deploying ICT resources in such a way that they are sustainable and contribute to economic development, the efficiency of organizations, and the quality of life of their people. This is done through:
- The promotion of ICT as a tool for poverty alleviation and human resource development;
Cooperation and partnerships with organizations in developing countries in the field of “ICT for development”; - Raising awareness on the importance of ICT as a tool for development;
- Actions on education, such as Master’s programs in ICT for development;
- Support for the development of ICT strategies at organizations in developing countries;
- ICT projects in carefully selected areas based on local initiatives and implemented in cooperation with organizations in developing countries;
- Functioning as a link between development cooperation agencies and industry;
- Partnerships with Swedish industrial enterprises.
For more information about SPIDER, please go to:
http://www.spidercenter.org/
