British and Venezuelan educators win UNESCO technology prize

The 2010 UNESCO-King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Prize for Use of Information and Communication Technology in Education has been awarded to the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Britain) and Infocentro Foundation (Venezuela).

The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Digital Literacy: Preparing Adult Learners for Lifelong Learning and Flexible Employment’ and the prize winners were announced by UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, on the recommendation of an international jury.

The National Institute for Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) is a leading non-governmental organisation promoting the interests of adult learners in England and Wales. The jury found that NIACE has developed a national network of 6,000 internet access centres to serve adults in both rural and urban settings, in addition to 194 internet projects for adults in sheltered housing. Close to 3,000 so-called ‘E-Guides’ were trained as tutors in national and regional networks.

The Infocentro Foundation was selected for its project, Technological Literacy for Older Adults. The Foundation is supported by the Venezuela Ministry of Popular Power for Science and Technology, providing free access to information technology infrastructure to enable adults and other users in achieving lifelong learning. Through 680 education infocentres established across the country, the foundation enables adult learners to move from basic computer literacy to more advanced ICT skills.

Infocentro Foundation has enabled almost one million individuals, including those with disabilities, to develop technology literacy skills. UNESCO’s Director-General will present the prize – a diploma and US$25,000 – to each of the winners at an awards ceremony on 12 January, 2011, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.