By Ayanna Kirton, Staff ReporterTHE TECHNOLOGICAL Innovation Centre (TIC) formally launched its membership in the World Bank-backed Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) at the at the University of Technology (UTech) on Wednesday.
The Global Development network is a growing partnership of more than 60 learning centres and public private and non-governmental organisations using interactive distance learning techniques for development. The GDLN helps to bridge geographical distances quickly and effectively enabling knowledge sharing, dialogue training and consultations on development topics.
Through the GDLN individuals, groups, and organisations can design and deliver courses, seminars, and other activities that address a full range of development issues. The TIC was selected to operate as a GDLN centre because it is equipped with the necessary technologies, particularly videoconferencing facilities, to facilitate communication. GDLN Centres around the world have facilities for video-conferencing, web-based learning, and face-to-face interaction and also offer logistical support and facilitation services.
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These centres provide cost effective fast and high impact alternatives to traditional meetings and courses, enabling people around the world to connect with each other without incurring the costs associated with travelling overseas.
The First Africa/Caribbean HIV/AIDS Global Dialogue will be the first in a series of dialogues using the GDLN and will be held on November 29, 2004. Participating agencies and institutions working in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Jamaica, Barbados, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania will gather to share successful public education strategies that promote behaviour change to help combat the disease. Endorsed as the most sophisticated centre in the region to facilitate the involvement of the Caribbean in GDLN activities, the TIC, located on the UTech campus at Old Hope Road in St. Andrew, has established itself as the first and only technology based business incubator in the region.
