July, 2010

• Find out all about the competition at the Imagine Cup website

Frank Schott, the global program director for NetHope has written a blog post over on Wired’s Haiti ReWired site about the chronic shortage of local information and communication technology (ICT) professionals in the country.

Frank writes:

ICT can be used to support health, education, economic development and conservation -- telemedicine, distance learning, epayments, mapping for deforestation are all well within reach. ICT solutions are needed to facilitate the rebuilding of Haiti, but there is a serious shortage of ICT professionals in the country.

To address this issue, Nethope is launching a new in-country initiative in Haiti:

NetHope Academy is launching an intern program that will give Haitian computer science students an opportunity to get on-the-job training while working for humanitarian organizations and corporations. Haiti is no different than anywhere else. It’s hard to get hired if you don’t have any work experience. The NetHope Academy can help, but we need your support.

To find out more, read Frank’s post or visit the NetHope Academy site.

Editor's Note: Due to a huge response, the webinar is now full, however you will be able to review a recording of the event at: http://bit.ly/ngowebinar

On Tuesday, July 27^th 2010 at 11am Pacific time (2pm Eastern) we are co-hosting a free webinar with TechSoup to provide you with advice and information on some of the compelling reasons for upgrading to Office 2010.

The webinar will be hosted by Elliot Harmon from TechSoup, author of What Your Organization Should Know About Office 2010, and an expert from our Microsoft Office team. They’ll cover a range of areas including:

• An overview of many of the improved features - such as image and video-editing - throughout the suite
• Office 2010 Web Apps for improved online collaboration
• The Social Connector tool that brings your social network to Outlook
• Guidance on upgrading your nonprofit to Office 2010
• Advice on how you can get Office 2010 for your nonprofit through our software donations program

You can download and view recordings of recent nonprofit webinars covering Windows 7, CRM and Online Tools at: http://bit.ly/ngowebinar.

Like many European countries, Norway has an aging population. Today, 13% of the population is above the age of 67 and by 2020 it is estimated that will grow to 22%. In 2008, the Norwegian Government presented a widely welcomed parliamentary white paper “An Information Society For All” which addresses key priorities for the country and aims to ensure that all sectors of Norwegian society enjoy the benefits of technology and the internet.

Today in Norway, while overall internet usage is very high with nine out of ten Norwegians below the age of 55 using the internet on a daily basis, less than five out of ten people over the age of 68 are regular users.

Microsoft Norway has been partnering with NGOs to address the challenge of improving the general population’s IT skills for several years and there is an increased focus on how we bring those skills to people over the age of 55.

We have a long standing partnership with a Norwegian organization “Seniornett” who we support through funding, equipment and software. Seniornett is focused on increasing digital participation by people above the age of 55, through a national network of clubs offering training courses and meeting places for seniors who wish to learn how to use computer and the internet. Seniornett provided training to more than 18,000 seniors in 2009 and they aim to ensure that 250,000 seniors are active on the Internet by 2014.

We’re also working closely with the Norwegian Red Cross on projects such as the Women’s café which provides computer and internet training. In Oslo, many of our employees use the three volunteering days they have each year to support the Woman’s Café. Microsoft volunteers provide women attending the café with personal computer and internet training. The café is especially popular amongst immigrants. Over 40% of immigrants in Norway have little or no IT skills, and Microsoft employees do outstanding work providing them with these essential IT skills. We think it’s a great example of how our people can use their skills in a way that directly benefits their local community – and make some good friends while they do so!

Microsoft Norway General Manager Hege Skryseth guiding Karimi Mariam through the wonders of technology.

Both the Seniornett and Women’s Café initiatives are now also supported by the national government through their e-inclusion agenda. It’s a great example of our ongoing commitment to drive effective citizenship programs in partnership with the public, private and nonprofit sectors and of course our people.

Find out more about our citizenship activities in Norway on the Local Impact Map

Kjetil Brun Thorvik

Kjetil Brun Thorvik is the Citizenship lead for Microsoft Norway. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he currently resides in Oslo, Norway. He has a business degree from Norwegian School of Management and over six years’ of experience as a corporate affairs consultant specializing in corporate citizenship and reputation management.

This week I am attending Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington D.C. In the past, this conference was focused on Microsoft’s commercial partners – the 700,000 partners who work with us to develop innovative applications built on our technology. This year 10,000 attendees, 60% from overseas and representing 190+ countries have joined us here. While there are plenty of traditional technology partners in attendance, I’d like to highlight some of the non-commercial partners, especially the organizations me and my team support, namely the International Organizations.

We work closely with inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), international financial institutions (IFIs), and regional and bilateral agencies to help them reach their objectives of assisting countries to foster economic growth, promote social development and address environmental sustainability. Development experts, academics and policymakers agree that information and communication technology (ICT) can play an important role in promoting economic growth, and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Together with these partners, we identify areas where Microsoft’s technology, know-how and resources complement their work and can help them achieve their mandates. Engagement is based on the idea that public-private partnerships can enable more effective program development and delivery through the sharing of mutual expertise, realizing a 1+1=3 model. Our partnerships vary in terms of focus, depth and projects around the world as well as in specific geographies.

Those attending this year’s Partner Conference with us include Dr. Roberto Vellutini, Vice President for Countries of the Inter-American Development Bank, Karen D. Turner, Director of USAID’s Office of Development Partners, Marc Breslaw, Executive Director USA of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Gianluca Bruni, Chief of IT Emergency Preparedness and Response for the World Food Programme.

Examples of how we work together with our international organization partners include:

• The Haiti Integrated Government Platform: together with the Inter-American Development Bank and our technology partner Infusion Development, we are working with the government of Haiti to deploy a solution that will help them manage the donor funding system supporting their rebuilding efforts and to establish a foundation for eGovernment services;
• With the World Food Program (WFP) and our partner Twisted Pair we are deploying technology that leverages the Office Communicator Server (OCS) and greatly enhances the monitoring and communication capabilities of the WFP delivery and incident systems;

Twisted Pair solution for World Food Programme from Microsoft on the Issues Blog on Vimeo.

• Together with the UNHCR we have helped them develop proGres, a global refugee registration system, and are working on a new computer education program to be deployed in refugee camp schools.

These are just a few examples of the development-focused work we conduct with these important partners. As aid dispersements grow by a factor of three, natural disasters increase in number and intensity and political conflicts continue to displace people from their homes, the demand for services and support by international organizations continues to grow. Through our partnerships we aim to do our part to help them apply technology to scale both their operations and their reach, as they improve lives around the world. Through developing solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, our work with international organizations illustrates Microsoft’s commitment to helping people globally realize their potential.

For additional information, see Linda Zecher’s blog post on the Official Microsoft blog or visit www.microsoft.com/publicsector.

Frank McCosker

Frank McCosker is the Managing Director of Multilateral and Bilateral Organisations, Public Sector