UNIDO and the private sector
UNIDO reaches out to underserved communities through its partnerships with Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.
Governments, development agencies and multinational companies have to complement each others’ efforts to increase the benefits for developing countries. As such, UNIDO has partnered with Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard to reach out to underserved communities – with information and communication technology (ICT) programmes that generate job opportunities and support economic growth.
Since 2006, UNIDO and Microsoft are strategic partners in the provision of support services to SMEs that foster greater innovation and competitiveness: together, they established rural Business Information Centres (BICs), which provide SMEs with a range of business development services. In 2007, their joint Uganda Business Information Centre (which was funded by the Austrian Development Agency) UNIDO and Microsoft won the Africa Investor Award in the category “Best Initiative in Support of SME Development”. UNIDO and Microsoft are pursuing their joint efforts towards more affordable ICT in sub-Saharan countries, and have established a pilot computer refurbishment plant in Uganda. The pilot model is now being replicated and linked to larger recycling programmes to responsibly address e-waste. Furthermore, UNIDO and Microsoft, together with the African Union Commission, have jointly developed a platform to monitor investment flows in Africa that offers great insight to potential investors.
With Hewlett-Packard, UNIDO seeks to instill entrepreneurship and IT skills in young people and thus encourage employment generation in two regions particularly affected by youth unemployment (Africa and the Middle-East). Since 2008, UNIDO and Hewlett-Packard have jointly deployed the “Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT” (GET-IT) programme in 10 countries and set-up a total of 28 centres, equipped with state-of-the-art technologies and a hands-on training curriculum on entrepreneurship and IT. By 2010, the GET-IT programme will have reached over 500,000 young people.
For additional information, please contact: Barbara Kreissler
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