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Capacity building and IT

Human and institutional capacity building are the building blocks of sustainable human development. Expanding and improving public education systems, increasing school enrollment, strengthening university programs and offering alternative education opportunities are all essential means of increasing capacity in developing countries. Advances in information technology (IT) have revolutionized education capacity the U.S. and have started to do the same in many parts of the developing world. The Payson Center has been on the cutting edge of this movement, introducing technology-enhanced tools for self-instruction and knowledge management to individuals and institutions in Africa, Latin America and beyond. These tools include a series of CD-ROM-based Greenstone Digital Libraries, each of which contains hundreds of publications on development topics such as food and nutrition, complex emergencies and disaster management, and the world environment. They also include a series of graduate-level technology enhanced courses built in open-source EClass software available hereor on CD-ROM.

Because capacity building involves transferring the skills required to package and manage knowledge (as opposed to the simply transferring knowledge), the Payson Center has developed a technology-assisted learning module (TALM) toolkit that allows individuals to design their own learning products, including computer-based courses, digital libraries, graphics and videos. This toolkit, like all of the Digital Libraries produced by the Payson Center, is provided free of charge and does not require licensing. Visit the TALM page here

Four projects currently undertaken under this service area are: