Sana’a, Republic of Yemen - Sunday 25th of January, 2009
World Links Arab Region Signs an MOU with Yemeni Ministry of Planning
World Links Arab Region and the Yemeni Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) signed, on Sunday the 25th of January 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the MOPIC headquarters in Sana’a aiming to increase the economic and technical cooperation, and to strengthen the Yemeni relations with regional and international organizations as well as various countries worldwide. The MOU, which was signed by World Links Arab Region CEO Reem N. Bsaiso and Yemeni Deputy Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Mr. Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, reinforces Yemen’s commitment to the World Links program having previously signed an agreement in 2004 to launch a pilot training program in Yemen, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The program, which was a great success, trained 500 teachers in basic computer literacy in 10 schools in Sana’a and Eden, in cooperation with dot.EDU Consortium, and 400 teachers in 12 schools in Hadhramout, in cooperation with Al Awn Foundation.
World Links Arab Region works with official governmental bodies, Arab and international partners and Ministries of Education, as it builds in-countries capacities and sustainability schemes. It aims at disseminating and immersing Information & Communications Technologies (ICT) in school education systems as well as in vocational training, enhancing self-learning and lifelong learning. Through the World Links Teachers’ Professional Development (TPD) program, it trains teachers on how to effectively use advanced ICT and gain new skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, employing research techniques and working collaboratively within groups. Teachers, in turn, pass over these new acquired skills and techniques to their students, who immediately gain these new skills and start producing advanced online content.
The World Links TPD program is currently being implemented in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen, having trained and touched the lives of more than 10,000 teachers and educators, and has proven to be so successful and extremely well-received that other Arab countries have also expressed great interest in applying the TPD program into their local educational systems and curricula.
Through the MOU, joint efforts will be made by both parties in continuing their cooperation to provide assistance to the Yemeni nation to bring valuable technology skills to teachers and students as they build a community of life-long learners and knowledge economies.
