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| Participants at the EUICT launch in Nevis |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 22, 2005) Nevis leg of the European Union Information Communication Technology (EUICT) project was launched Tuesday in Nevis at a function held at the Red Cross Building in Charlestown.
In attendance were consultants from the European Community (EC) Mr Stuart Black, Ms Needy Tendant and Mr Richard Labell, along with Mr Elvin Bailey, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, and Ms. Jacqueline Brookes, Adult Education Officer in the Nevis Island Administration, who also chaired the ceremony.
Mr. Stuart Black noted that although the project had been delayed by some two years he was excited that the facilitators took the initiative to launch the project on the island. He said that the project was aimed at raising the level of education and training in the information and technology sector, explaining that it targets teachers and persons in the community who are interested in ascertaining a higher degree of certification, in order to stay competitive in a globally developing world.
Mr. Richard Labell who explained that he had come from Haiti where he was involved in an IT project, observed that although the countries were different, the projects were the same, noting that the basis of the project was to focus on the community and to strengthen their capacity to interact and to get involved in the local, regional and global economy. The project's main objective is to allow countries to compete more through the greater use of technology.
Ms. Needy Tendant who conducts the IT training at different community levels commented that her focus was primarily on small associations of entrepreneurs to develop their own packages of computer software. She said her training was very contextualised and specific and that Nevis already had a strong advantage by having a number of ICT tools.
In his brief remarks, Permanent Secretary, Mr. Elvin Bailey, spoke of the commitment of the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) to the project, and said that his ministry had long ago accepted Information Technology, in particular computer technology and computer literacy as an essential tool in the fight against poverty.
He pointed out that the Nevis Island Administration had sought to established computer labs in all of the schools and had fitted at least five of the community centres on the island with computers. In conclusion he further re-enforced the government's commitment to the development of the social and technical skill in Information Technology by reducing customs duty on all computers being imported into the country.
