DUSHANBE, December 12, 2009, Asia-Plus - Use of mobile information and communication technologies, or ITC, in the system for management of social issues and their direct influence on the process of development of local communities were in the focus of a training seminar that took place at the Sohibkor Business Center in Dushanbe on December 7-9.

Organized by the UNESO Almaty Cluster Office for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in cooperation with the public foundation, Civil Initiative on Internet Policy (CIIP), the seminar brought together 17 heads of Internet centers, local community leaders responsible for spread of information among the population, and university and school teachers from all regions of the country to discuss issues related to integration of mobile ICTs into the education sector, methodology of development of electronic materials and prospects of use of open educational resources to promote development of intellectual capacity of specialists.

Speaking at the meeting, the CIIP director Muhammadi Ibodulloyev noted that the number of users of mobile services was increasing in Tajikistan.  “They now constitute some 60 percent of the country’s population, while Internet users constitute only some 15 percent of the population,” Ibodulloyev noted.

“Flexibility of mobile devices allows using their additional functional opportunities in case of lack of signal of communications such as receiving and transferring files, photo and video materials, as well as downloading and reading electronic books,” he noted.

At the end of the seminar, Sergey Karpov, the head of the communication and information department, UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office, noted that knowledge and skills obtained by the seminar participants would be introduced into mobile service centers and Internet providers in Tajikistan.  In the future, competent specialists will conduct training for local communities on use of various services offered by mobile ICTs, he said.  “We plan to work out a number of recommendations for the government of the country and representatives of the United Nations on use of mobile technologies for development of society,” Karpov stressed.

Information and communication technologies allow users to participate in a rapidly changing world, in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technologies.  ICT tools can be used to find, explore, analyze, exchange and present information responsibly and without discrimination.  ICT can be employed to give users quick access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures