ArabDev participated in the Arab Source Preparatory meeting in Damascus 16-20 November 2006. The meeting was an event to train people from NGOs in the Arab World on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

With the help of EGLUG volunteers, ArabDev has upgraded Adeeb Wahba's computer lab in anticipation of having a DSL line installed, and the lab opened for internet services and cultural activities.

The school lab now has 10 PCs with Mandriva 2006 installed in a dual boot setup. Also and as a request of both teachers and students, many games and educational software (although only in English) were installed.

Thanks Sherif Nagy (DarKnesS_WolF) for your help.

Asmaa Fawzy (teacher) helping the students test the newly installed games. Sherif Nagy (DarKnesS_WolF) in the background configuring the network.

The 2004/5 Africa Hafkin Communication Prize selected Kenya's Wundanyi, Global Education Partnership (GEP) as the Winner. ArabDev's Leila Hassanin was on the jury.

Partha Pratim Sarker from Bytes For All has interviewed ArabDev's repersentative, Manal Hassan on ArabDev's Project with preparatory schools in Abu Qorqas, Menia.

Download the podcast interview from Partha's blog

APC.org writes about ArabDev's Women empowerment training with ACDA, Assiut.

(...) ACDA is also helping women that are victims of domestic violence to find some outlet. Local traditions prevent women from going to shelters, so providing these women with training and a job is their only way out of a violent family home. “There are many young people who are waiting to start their training,” says ArabDev director, Leila Hassanin. (...)

Read the full article

APC.org writes about ArabDev's Project with AUED, Menia.

(...) The 8 schools ArabDev has been working with are all catering to poor communities cut off from IT services, among many other services. “Most of the children were never exposed before the project to computers,” said ArabDev director, Leila Hassanin, “Now the children are proficient computer users.” The IT classes were intertwined with academic topics and activity groups at the schools. Topics ranged from the environment, journalism, creative writing, and children’s rights. Adding the IT element to the school day and activity classes made it an enriching experience for the children.

APC.org writes about ArabDev's Youth training with APE, Cairo.

(...) After having assessed the community, ArabDev found that the recent generations of Zabaleen are educated - most have finished high school and some have university educations. However, many of these young people have not able to find work due to their lack of marketable skills and the fact that their education is not related to actual market needs. These youths also lack self-esteem and hold themselves back from going outside of their traditional surroundings. (...)

Re

To install and train yourself on the use of the multiplatform OpenOffice.org suite (supported even by Windows OS) click

OpenOffice.org

The training is through a series of video presentations, entertaining and easy to follow.

ArabDev's IT training resources

The links are courtesy of Naveed Qureshi.

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