About CDI International Network: The Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI) is a non-profit organization working to free young people from poverty and social exclusion through the establishment of community IT and Citizenship Schools. CDI views IT literacy as a way to promote employment opportunities, civic participation, formal education, ecology, health, human rights and non-violence.
CDI seeks to help individual communities establish their own educational programs. Since its inception in Rio de Janeiro in 1995, the Committee has supported 933 communities around Brazil, South Africa, Angola, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, México and Uruguay, to establish their own autonomous and financially self-sustaining IT and Human Right Schools
These neighborhoods are among the nation’s poorest. CDI provides these schools with technical assistance, teacher training, curriculum development, as well as donated software and computer equipment.
By implementing the CDI model, the EICs have enrolled 936.900 graduates so far, mostly children and teenagers. The Committee has successfully adapted its methodology to reach diverse groups, such as street children, visually-impaired youths, prisoners, and indigenous people.
About CDI Uruguay: It’s a program which empower its targets working in coordinati on with CDI International Network over all the territory of this country. Since the starting of CEIBAL project, CDI Uruguay is collaborating with it to extend its performance.
CDI Uruguay offers Uruguayan communities technical assistance, teacher training, and help in developing methods and specific curricula for different social groups, free of charge. In addition, CDI Uruguay donates computers, printers, and software. Once an EIC is created, CDI Uruguay continues to assist in its development.
Information technology is spearheading the modernization process the world over. Young people living in poor communities are consequently extremely interested in it. The computer skills and knowledge of human rights and ecology, acquired in the EICs, create more opportunities for participants, as well as for their families and neighborhoods. In addition, there is a growing demand for IT skills in today’s job market. These young people, once equipped with computer skills, will have greater employment opportunities and will consequently be better placed to integrate into society both economically and socially.
Governments and non-governmental organizations, as well as non-profit and international development agencies, have acknowledged the remarkable effectiveness of the CDI model. For instance, UNESCO has been instrumental in lending institutional support and has granted the Committee with its Seal of Approval. CDI finances its activities through partnerships with the government agencies, as well as with corporations and philanthropic organizations. With the help of partners including Inter American Development Bank, Microsoft, Avina, World Bank, Swiss Re Brazil Services de Participators, United Methodist Church, Ashoka, Global Partnerships, Zonamerica Business & Technology Park, Punto Ogilvy, ARTech, República AFAP, Fanapel, Estudio Luis Lecueder and many others, CDI is building a solid financial and administrative platform, where new funding can be securely invested for the development of effective social programs.