June, 2010

I had many truly wonderful experiences in Taiwan, the team there; Hope Ong and Angela Yao; have done an amazing job pioneering the Women Unlimited Potential (UP) program. They have chosen to focus their work on women, an underserved community in Taiwan in terms of training and access to technology. Over the years the program has grown however the success of the initial grants is evident with many centres continuing to use the UP Curriculum and offering courses after the initial Microsoft Grant had finished. This is in part thanks to our dedicated partner Electronic Commerce Business Association (ECBA) and also to the Taiwanese Government that has stepped in after seeing the success of the program with additional funding and support.

On this trip my site visits were in Taiching city. A city famed for its night market, sensational food and a Taiwanese special called stinky tofu (yes for the record I tried it and yes for the record the smell is worse than even I could have imagined). In Taiching I met with members from Taiwan *** Cancer Association (TBCA).  This centre is one of the mobile class rooms with classes held in a multi-function community center for women and senior activities. The mobile nature of the training means the reach can be much greater as the trainers and computers move from city to city throughout the week.

These brave and enthusiastic ladies shared how learning to use computers was opening up their world connecting them with fellow survivors from around the world and empowering them to learn more themselves. They valued the time with each other and many saw this not only as a way to network but also to allow them to improve their job prospects when they returned to work. There was one lady in particular who was still undergoing chemotherapy yet made the 50 minute drive on her motorcycle once per week to come to the class. To her, learning to use this technology gave her hope and she was determined to make each and every class.

My other stop in Taiching was the Tai Chung Women’s Prison. I found out as I arrived that our local team had gone to a huge amount of effort to make this visit possible. I was to be the first foreign woman allowed inside and it had required sign off from many levels within the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). I was honored and humbled merely at being given the opportunity however nothing prepared me for the impact of meeting face-to-face the female prison trainees.

They told me of their happiness, inspirations and appreciation of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) program and the hard work of our hardware partner ASUS to bring this opportunity to them. I heard some amazing stories about what they had experienced in their lives and how they truly believed these skills would assist them on release. Many were keen to start their own online stores and all that I spoke to really believed that IT skills were going to give them an advantage when they were released.

This training facility is a pioneer project for Microsoft, conducted in collaboration with three government legal control institutions (under the Ministry of Justice ). The aim of these UP classes is offer soon to be released women with the IT skills and e-commerce training to assist them to be able to support themselves after getting out of jail. The course is only offered to a limited number of students at this stage and is often oversubscribed.

Tai Chung Women’s Prison is an institution that focuses on how to set up the women for success. Launching this course required a lot of dedication, firstly they wanted to be able to simulate the way technology works out side of the prison, search engines, auctions site, social networking, however for security reasons there is no internal access available to the women. The team worked to customize the curriculum for the women and to make it not only relevant but also inspiring and they even went to the effort of creating a mini internet experience for the women to improve their learning and give them a greater understanding of how all these tools now work.

These women have left a lasting impression on me. They value what we often take for granted and had a passion and fire for life that technology was igniting in them. I have looked back over the photos I have taken many times and they do not cease to bring a smile to my face – so to the women of Taiwan THANK YOU!

Yesterday, I had the honor of hosting a team from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) at Microsoft’s campus as part of their tour of the Northwest. IAVA is the nation's first and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit dedicated to the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the civilian supporters of those troops and veterans.

IAVA is one of the members of the Microsoft Elevate America Veterans Initiative coalition, along with The American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans of America, United Service Organizations (USO), and the Wounded Warrior Project, who are helping us think about how we can most effectively partner with others to support veterans and their spouses as they transition from military to civilian employment. As part of the initiative we have a competitive funding process currently underway to find appropriate nonprofits who can come together to address this issue. (The deadline for applications is June 30, 2010.)

Todd Bowers, IAVA's Deputy Executive Director and a Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veteran, Jason Hansman, IAVA's Community Manager and OIF veteran, and Chrissy Stevens, IAVA's Director of Communications joined a group of Microsoft employees to talk about the issues facing this current generation of veterans and how IAVA is creating solutions both programmatically as well as through policy and legislation to address these issues.

IAVA is involved in a wide range of policy, program and advocacy issues supporting veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and even more importantly, they are laser focused on getting results and making change happen. Issues like the transition home, healthcare, mental health, employment, the GI Bill, disability claims, and navigating the Veterans Administration are some of the key issues on the IAVA agenda.

IAVA is working to raise awareness of some of these issues through their award winning ads, made in partnership with the Ad Council.

During the discussion, one of the most common questions from the audience, comprised largely of veterans working at Microsoft or spouses/friends of veterans was: “What can we do to help?” Here are three key things you can do, starting today:

• Learn about the issues (www.iava.org is a great resource and a great place to start)
• Raise awareness of the issues with others - especially your local elected officials and policy makers
• Get involved and take action on an issue that is important to you. There are a lot of ways you can do so: volunteer with your local VA Hospital, host an event for veterans, make a charitable contribution to the veterans’ charity of your choice, or write a letter to your congressman.

As we continue our work with veterans, we feel very fortunate to have partners like IAVA and the other members of the Elevate America Veterans Initiative coalition who are working every day to make a difference in the lives of veterans and their families.

You can find out more about the Microsoft Elevate America Veterans Initiative here.

I am just back from Hong Kong where I attended one of our NGO Connection Days. The connection days are held around the world and provide nonprofits with the opportunity to come together, network and find out about how they can use technology to support their organizations. The event in Hong Kong was a great success with around 180 participants who learned about a range of topics from cloud computing to social media. I also met with some of our local nonprofit partners.

In Hong Kong we work with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to help us improve how nonprofits access technology through our software donation programs and also to provide training and access to technology to underserved communities helping them to improve their economic prospects. In Hong Kong though, as in the case of many of our markets in Asia, there is an ageing population so often for the elderly while paid employment may not be on the cards contributing to the economy through volunteering is of huge importance to the Government.

Enter the delightful Benedict. Benedict was born in mainland China and studied earlier in his life in Macau. Benedict spent more than 30 years as a taxi driver in Hong Kong and after retiring was unsure what to do next but wanted to feel like he was still contributing. Benedict undertook one of our Unlimited Potential training courses through our partner Hans Anderson and was hooked! But the training was not enough, Benedict wanted to help Hans Anderson and Microsoft bring this world of technology to even more people, so now he is one of the star trainers at the Hans Anderson Centre at Chukyuen, a public housing estate in a much underserved community.

Benedict is volunteering his services to allow more and more seniors to learn how technology can keep them contributing to the success of Hong Kong.

At the other end of the age scale I met Ken. Ken is working for Hans Anderson providing training and courses. Ken and some of his colleagues see an opportunity to bring together technology and an environmental message together in a way that is fun and appeals to youth. They have come up with this nifty little speaker that is made from recycled plastic bulbs from vending machines. In their experience the students love making them and are so bust having fun they almost forget they are learning about technology and recycling! They may also have a burgeoning business in a few years as well!