Cisco Networking Academy (The Gender Initiative)

• Least Developed Countries (LDC) Initiative: Through partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Programme, the International Telecommunication Union, and the United Nations Volunteers, the Cisco Networking Academy (Gender Initiative) hopes to achieve at least 30 percent female enrollment in more than 200 established LDC Academies and to create all-female academy program classes.
• Achieving E-Quality in the IT Sector in the Middle East: Cisco has collaborated with the United Nations Development Fund for Women and USAID to implement many gender-focused training programs in the Middle East by promoting women's participation in IT.
• Women in Technology Project:
  USAID and Cisco worked with the Institute of International Education to provide US$300,000 in scholarships for women in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka to attend a Networking Academy in their country.

Jordan Education Initiative (JEI)
JEI brings holistic educational change, through electronic content, teacher training, and technology, to 100 select "Discovery Schools." The program uses technology to communicate complex concepts more effectively, encourage critical thinking, and build confidence. Teacher-led classroom sessions, with the aid of laptops and projectors, incorporate technology into about 80 percent of student learning time. In contrast, a computer lab consumes only about eight percent of student time for the same cost.

Global Education Initiative (GEI)
The JEI showed that public-private partnerships could support a sustainable model of national education reform. The World Economic Forum launched the GEI in July 2006, with Cisco as a founding partner. GEI aims to build on the success of the JEI by documenting best practices and lessons learned, capturing and creating models and tools, and promoting effective models for education reform.

Egypt Education Initiative (EEI)
Under the auspices of the EEI, Cisco plans to establish an additional 1000 Networking Academy sites across Egypt and use vehicles, called "mobile labs," to bring information and communications technology to underprivileged communities. Two vans and two buses, each equipped with satellite Internet connections, data projectors, printers, scanners, and Web cameras, park in a community for five weeks to offer the Cisco IT Essentials course to 50 students at a time. Additionally, about 16,000 visitors, nearly 45 percent of them female, have joined educational tours of the mobile labs.

21st Century Schools and Communities Initiative
In October 2005, Cisco launched the 21st Century Schools (21S) and Communities Initiative, a US$40 million investment in a multiphase, three-year education program in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. The 21S initiative will create a 21st-century model that improves the quality of education and encourages community growth and economic development. The initiative was developed to benefit areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
Cisco is a key participant in NEPAD, contributing both people and financial resources to implement information and communication technology in educational institutions across the African continent. The NEPAD e-Schools Demonstration Project is a multicountry initiative to impart technical skills to students in secondary schools. Cisco is one of five companies that are participating in this partnership to introduce students to self-directed learning applications, collaboration, Web and e-mail access, and other hands-on technology. The Cisco team is also training teachers and administrators to help ensure that each school can effectively take advantage of these new capabilities.

Teachers Without Borders
Through Teachers Without Borders, a nonprofit established in more than 119 countries, Cisco Systems Foundation funded a program in South Africa that trained 850 teachers and 2000 students in science and math. For the first time, 100 of these students took the national standards test, and 63 percent passed. Tribal elders now see science and math as educational necessities. The South African government was so impressed by this program that it offered to build a Teachers Without Borders school for the poorest population in South Africa and cover 60 percent of its salary costs.

Narrowing the Digital Divide: UNETE
In Mexico, Cisco is working with UNETE (Unión de Empresarios para la Tecnología en la Educación), a well-known association of businesspeople who have long-standing partnerships with local communities, as well as federal and local governments to raise the education standards of elementary and secondary schools.

Cisco is providing computer education and equipment. In FY2006, the company donated US$100,000 in products to UNETE to help close the digital divide between Mexico and more developed countries. Additionally, a systems engineer manager at the Cisco Mexico office is a member of UNETE's Advisory and Technological Council.

Reducing Marginalization: Net@
Net@, backed by a US$1.6 million Cisco product grant, trains youth in marginalized communities in Israel to prepare for high-tech professions and to develop local leadership.

Net@ targets underprivileged, underserved groups, such as new immigrants and Bedouin and Druze minorities. Youth from diverse backgrounds learn together and develop a deep understanding of, and respect for, one another. Initiated in 2003, the program is now working with more than 1800 students in 21 locations across Israel.