5. USER DEVELOPMENT ON THE REDID NETWORK
7. June 1, 1993
8. May 31, 1998
9. Computing, Collaboration, Workgroups, Human Resources, InterNet, Telnet, MicroIsis, UUCP,
10. Population Affected: urban and rural
11. Target Groups: total community
12. No. of Beneficiaries: Direct: 300; Indirect: ~3,000
13. Not applicable
14. Donors Year
| 1 |
Year |
| 2 |
Year |
| 3 |
Year |
| 4 |
Year |
| 5 |
Year |
| 6 Total |
Total Canada Partner Others CIDA |
16. How did the project Originate and what problem does it hope to
resolve:
REDID started as a project ('91) of the Latin American & Caribbean Network (REDALC), helped by the EEC's Union Latina and UNESCO. REDID's mission is to modernize D.R.'s scientific and technical community and link it to education, development, industry, and global networks. Meetings on this CIDA project idea were held in Santo Domingo at the 1991 IOHE Int'l Congress and July 1992 Int'l Workshop for novice academic network users and the launch of Calidad Technologia y Globalizacion en la Educacion Superior Latinoamericana (UNESCO/CRESALC, Caracas, 1991), w/articles by the project directors.
The use networked electronic access to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the broadly defined scientific and technical community in the Dominican Republic.
A program of training and capacity building is required if institutional members are to make good use of REDID, and for it to achieve self-financing. The project will: train and assist personnel to (a) use network services, (b) support and train others, (c) become information providers, (d) facilitate collaborative work, and (e) access Dominican expertise abroad.
To support and assist:
Working with (REDALC), a regional institution, and with the (currently 25) members of the REDID consortium the project will strengthen Dominican educational, scientific and technical capacit yand its links to Canada. Beyond Canadian participation in the project, enhanced network access will facilitate Canadian and Dominican academic collaboration.
22. Relevance to the Development Priorities of the Partner
Institution and Country:
The project is congruent with the objectives as REDALC and the mission of the REDID electronic network. The Association of Dominican University Rectors, Council for Higher Education, National Planning Office, Secretary of State for Education, Fine Arts and Culture, as well as a number of universities and research institutes are members of the REDID consortium.
The sustainability of electronic networking depends upon incorporating computer mediated technologies into the various social processes involves in academic, scientific and technological work, and the funding necessary to support it. The political will is present as witnessed by the initial membership in the REDID consortium. Financing academic and research networks is a high fixed cost low marginal cost activity. Financial soundness depends upon cultivating a broad user base facing low user fees.
There is already a considerable presence of women in Dominican electronic networking efforts outlined above. The President of REDID is female, one of the two senior REDALC staff responsible for REDID is female, a significant number of those attending the July 91 networking workshop were women, Centres for feminist action and women in development are charter members of REDID, and the government Minister is female. Also, the project is well suited to participation by women and women's organizations in all of its operations. On the Canadian side, if anything, the relative level involvement by women is lower. CERLAC's Deputy Director is a female academic with skills and a keen interest in networking. CERLAC has access to women at York University with skills in networking, administrative computer management, and documentation software.
25. Effects on the Environment
The project's impact on the environment and environmental effort in the Dominican Republic is quite positive. Electronic networking can substitute for travel so at that rather mundane level it is energy saving. More important, it will allow better collaboration between domestic groups and better lines to groups abroad. For example, the research centre on marine biology is eager for closer links with Canadian's working on the humpback whales which alternate between the two countries depending on the season.
Two critical assumptions underpin the project. We believe that the teams' experience with the human systems/technology interface and social process from elsewhere is relevant in the D.R. The other is that the country will remain stable. It has been stable for 15 years. However, the 500th anniversary of the Conquest has occasioned rising tensions and at the start of celebrations, during the third week of September, a special unit of the state police killed a human rights leader in cold blood, before the cameras of the news media. Beyond this worrisome fact, it is important that care be taken in signing a formal agreement which involves both REDALC and REDID. The have overlapping staff and duties but REDALC is formally an international non-governmental educational organization, and more immune to arbitrary government action, than is REDID, a Dominican non-governmental organization.
Networking projects increasingly take on an informal collaborative dimension. The UN/UNDO. UNESCO, the Brazilian, Ecuadorean, Canadian and U.S. non-governmental networks support and critique networking projects in a variety of ways. The project will be subject to three levels of evaluation. The first is the informal on-going evaluation that the technology itself makes possible. The second will be the creation of an Evaluation Plan, with specific time tables for evaluating various aspects of the project, the creation and progress of SIGS for specific uses for example. The third will be formal annual reviews involving the management teams, user groups and outside experts with skills specific to particular aspects of the project.
The project's outreach component will be through empowering networked researchers, institutes and action oriented centres who use REDID's services. Private sector interest is reflected in the fact that CODETEL, the country's phone system (owned by CTE) is supplying for free the link from the REDID node to the international node in Puerto Rico. A number of participants from, or involved with, the private sector attended the inaugural workshop on REDID this past July. Most of the REDID/REDALC team and participating individuals from REDID member institutions are fluent in more than one of English, French, Spanish. The CERLAC team leader has worked in Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia and the Dominican Republic with weak but serviceable linguistic skills. Given that the project is about networked access, there will be more "on-site" training and less travel across linguistic boundaries for the purpose of being trained. When short term, or concurrent language training is necessary, both York University and the institutional membership of REDID are equipped to offer training at the appropriate levels.
TEAM PROFILE
York University
Sam Lanfranco, PhD (Economics)
Associate Professor (Economics), CERLAC Fellow
Atkinson College, York University
Team Leader: Direct CERLAC end of CERLAC/REDALC Project
Anneke Rummins, PhD Candidate
Deputy Director, CERLAC
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Arts, York Univ.
Asst Team Leader: Development of User Support of Service
Provision
Rory Obrien, M.A. (Environmental Studies)
Project Development, WEB (NGO) Computer Network
WEB (NGO) Computer Network
Planning and Advising on Service Implementation
Veronica Timm, (Computer Science)
Systems and Service Support
CCS (Computer Services), York University
Training for Technical and User Support
TEAM QUALIFICATIONS
Professor Lanfranco's work on technology and development includes 5 years on academic and project networking in developing countries. Fluent in english, with some spanish, he has worked in 5 spanish and 2 english speaking countries of the region. He has written and lectured in the subject area and was a speaker at the July 1992 REDID workshop. As the CERLAC team leader he holds chief overall responsibility for project administration and implementation.
Anneke Rummins is completing a social sciences PhD on Caribbean development issues and is Deputy Director of CERLAC. She is keen supporter and participant in computer networking for collaborative work. As Deputy Director of CERLAC she will work closely with CERLAC's project team leader. She is a likely candidate for further language and skills training within the project.
Rory Obrien, with training in environmental studies, was one of the founders of the Native Canadian and WEB computer networks. He may require further language training. With the WEB he has considerable experience with networking projects in developing countries. He will assist in the planning and implementation of technical systems and user support.
Veronica Timm, is a systems and user support staff person in York's computer centre, with experience in computer support services and research experience in multimedia technologies. Her language skills may require enhancing depending on the need for her services at the REDALC end of the project. She can assist in the development of system and user support.
All three CERLAC team members are highly motivated and keenly interested in computer networking for collaborative work, and each has a good working relationship with the CERLAC director of the project.
EXPERIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The Team Director, Professor Lanfranco, has worked for 20 years in international cooperative activities with the UN/UNCTAD, with a CIDA funded institutional cooperation project between CERLAC and FLACSO in Ecuador, with a number of non-governmental develoment organizations and in a dozen or more countries around the world.
Rory Obrien, through the projects of the WEB computer network has experience in Latin America and at the present time is working on projects involving Africa.
Deputy Director of CERLAC Anneke Rummens has done dissertation field work in the Caribbean. Veronica Timm has not worked abroad but has been involved in collaborative projects carried out through the electronic networks.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT QUALIFICATIONS
Overall project management qualifications rest mainly with the team director, Professor Lanfranco, and the project management suppor tprovided by the staff of the York Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, the York Office for Research Administration and the York Office for Research Accounting. The team director was formerly Deputy Director of CERLAC and is a member of the team for the CERLAC/FLACSO-Quito cooperative project. The team director also has extensive experience in project management by virtue of committee positions as a board member on a community hospital (Doctors Hospital, Toronto) and on an international NGO (Habitat for Humanity Canada, Waterloo). Rory Obrien, within the portfolio of projects undertaken by the WEB computer network has extensive experience in the joint management of cooperative projects.
TEAM PROFILE
Daniel Pimienta, PhD (Computer Science)
REDALC Project Director
Union Latina, Santo Domingo
Team Leader: Direct CERLAC/REDALC Project
Senaida Jansen, M.Sc. (Computer Science)
REDALC Researcher and Consultant
Union Latina, Santo Domingo
Asst Team Leader: Implement CERLAC/REDALC Project
Cristian Mathias, MSc (Computer Science)
REDALC Technical Assistant
Union Latina, Santo Domingo
Technical Assistant: Installation and User Support Training
TEAM QUALIFICATIONS
Dr. Daniel Pimienta's background is in applied mathematics and computer science with 12 years experience as a systems architect and senior planner with IBM (France). He is project director and science advisor to Union Latina's REDALC projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Fluent in english, spanish and french, he has a high level of experience in project management from the technical to the administrative and cooperative levels. He was the chief architect of the REDID network, the vehicle for the work of this CERLAC/REDALC Project. He has written, lectured and trained on building cooperative (electronic) research networks and would hold chief responsibility for the administrative and substantiative implementation of the project in the Dominican Republic.
Ms. Senaida Jansen has a background in computer science applied to social studies with 3 years experience heading a statistical unit and doing survey research on women in development. Fluent in spanish, french and english, she has written on women and development and has extensive experience in project formulation (w/OXFAM), project evaluation (w/UNICEF), and in the management of training seminars. Ms. Senaida would be responsible for day to day implementation in the CERLAC/REDALC project.
Mr. Cristian Matias had 2 years experience in software development before joining REDALC in 1990. Fluent in spanish with a working knowledge of english, he has learned project development and participation skills while at REDALC. Mr. Matias would be responsible for installation and user support at the technical end. Involved in the development of user training materials, he is a likely candidate for further educational training within the CERLAC/REDALC project.
The REDALC team members are highly motivated and committed to the goals of the CERLAC/REDALC project. All have a good working relationship with each other and with the head of the Canadian York/CERLAC team.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT QUALIFICATIONS
Both Daniel Pimienta, the Team Leader, and Senaida Jansen have extensive experience in large project management. Dr. Pimienta managed large and small application projects while a systems architect and planner at IBM, planned the Union Latina REDALC project in the first instance, and within REDALC coordinates a working group of 15 people spread over different countries. The Dominican project team has the resources of the REDALC office staff and the REDID consortium to assist it with project management.
Senaida Jansen, assistant team leader, headed the statistical office of a Dominican institute for two years, has extensive evaluation experience for UNICEF and managed the organization of the international training seminar last July, with financial support from Union Latina, UNESCO and the UN Development Program.
EXPERIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Both while he was with IBM and since he has come to REDALC, Dr. Pimienta, who was born in Morocco, has been actively involved in projects involving international cooperation. REDALC works with all of Latin America and the Caribbean and in REDALC's two years of operation Dr. Pimienta has launched a Peruvian network (RCP) as well as the Dominican REDID network and is engaged in planning exercises for a French West Indies, and a Haitian network.
Senaida Jansen has had extensive international experience in the women in development and demographic studies area. Both Dr. Pimienta and Ms. Jansen operate with the full support of the REDALC office in Santo Domingo.