<p style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'" lang="EN-US"><strong><font color="#2f2f2f">For Immediate Release</font></strong></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'" lang="EN-US"><strong><font color="#2f2f2f">29 August 2012</font></strong></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN:center;MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'" lang="EN-US"><strong><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">United Nations convenes ICTD experts to strengthen programme monitoring and evaluation </font></font></strong></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'" lang="EN-US"><strong>Incheon, Republic of Korea:</strong></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"> Regional experts from government, academia, civil society and the private sector, and the United Nations hub for information and communication technology for development (ICTD) gather to enhance monitoring and evaluation tools for ICTD capacity building programmes. </span></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US">The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP) today concluded an Expert Group Meeting towards strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of APCICT’s </span><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman'" lang="EN-US"><strong><a href="http://unapcict.org/academy" target="_blank">“Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders”</a></strong></span></i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"> (Academy) programme. The Academy equips government officials and development practitioners with the skills and knowledge to leverage ICT for socio-economic development.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f" size="3"> </font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">Over the two-day meeting, 28-29 August, 8 Academy programme partners from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Tajikistan examined various dimensions of a new ‘M&E Toolkit’ that is under development for the Academy. The M&E Toolkit is a generic tool designed to help Academy partners better capture the progress and impact of the Academy programme in different national contexts. </font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f" size="3"> </font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">“The results of this unique gathering will help to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of APCICT’s flagship capacity development programme, and provide Academy partners throughout the region with the practical tools to do so.” said Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director of UN-APCICT/ESCAP.</font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3"><span> </span></font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">Participants of the Expert Group Meeting reviewed the Toolkit and concretized plans to customize and apply it in the field over the coming months. The outcomes and lessons learned from the field application will subsequently be presented at a regional meeting of Academy partners to be held later this year. </font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f" size="3"> </font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">“This gathering of M&E experts and facilitators was an important opportunity to share first-hand perspectives and develop resources that will help to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of ICT for development training programmes and frameworks, at the national and regional-levels,” noted Ms. Yvette Cabrera, Senior Competency Standards Specialist from the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Philippines.<span> </span></font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f" size="3"> </font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">The M&E Toolkit and this week’s Expert Group Meeting are a part of APCICT’s continuous effort to strengthen the impact and reach of the Academy programme, which was first launched in June, 2008 during the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy in Seoul, Republic of Korea. </font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN:0cm 1.55pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Times New Roman';FONT-WEIGHT:normal" lang="EN-US"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font size="3">Since then, the Academy has been rolled-out in 26 Asia-Pacific as well as Africa and the Middle-East. It is available in 9 languages and has reached over 12,000 participants through face-to-face and online course enrolments. </font></font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;LINE-HEIGHT:12pt;BACKGROUND:white"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span lang="EN-US">About United Nations APCICT- ESCAP</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> (<a href="http://www.unapcict.org/" target="_blank">http://www.unapcict.org</a>) </span></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;LINE-HEIGHT:12pt;BACKGROUND:white"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP) is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), established with a membership identical to that of ESCAP and is located in Incheon, Republic of Korea. APCICT aims to strengthen the efforts of the member countries of ESCAP to use ICT in their socio-economic development by building the human and institutional capacity for ICT through comprehensive programmes and knowledge sharing platforms.</font></font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;BACKGROUND:white"><i><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">For further information, please contact:</font></font></span></i></p>
<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;BACKGROUND:white"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Ph.D.</font></font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;BACKGROUND:white"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Director, UN-APCICT/ESCAP</font></font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;BACKGROUND:white"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Incheon, Republic of Korea</font></font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;BACKGROUND:white"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">T: + (82) 032 245 1700</font></font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY:inter-ideograph;TEXT-ALIGN:justify;BACKGROUND:white"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">E: <a href="mailto:director@unapcict.org" target="_blank">director@unapcict.org</a></font></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
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