Using ICT4D can be as simple as sitting a person in front of a computer and letting them teach themselves.

I can change the world! I used to think. When I was younger, I was sure I would change the world. But by the time I graduated with a BSc in Education, I was sure I would never teach, because I was never even going to be able to change the educational system, which I perceived as designed for the ease of administrators, not for the students. So I narrowed my horizons and tried to work within my own community.

Coming full circle, I again think we can all change the world—and not just by adding that grain of sand, or that second violin to the orchestra. Any addition we make teaching new skills is a building block of development and the foundation of the future. I’m not an engineer, but I do know that without a solid foundation, any building is at risk. I’m still nobody, but I can change the world.

We now have more tools than ever available to us. From simply teaching a neighbor to use a computer, to Diplo Foundation’s sophisticated online fellowships in Internet Governance (www.diplomacy.edu) there is a continuum of possibilities to start a “pass it on” chain of ICT knowledge: teach a senior citizen to consult their pension status or file their tax forms online—in Venezuela there are some citizen transactions that can only be done online. Imagine the importance this small act of patience can have! Better yet, find an Internet café that will donate an hour a week of slow time, for you to give a seniors’ Internet user course! Can’t do it? Find a friend who can, and help them organize it.

People say “if you can’t do, teach”. Some people think that is an insult. It’s not. Teaching reaches a large audience of potential doers. Giving learners the tools to change their world will have a domino effect that reaches around the world. You’re a tech person, not a teacher? Perfect! The teachers, who can’t “do” that technical part, need you. Pair up with a teacher and set up a platform for a free online course.

A small project isn’t worth the effort? If:

POEM - POEM - POEM

Then having a nail, providing that nail can win the victory! I don’t think hammering a nail into a computer will help much, but plugging it in and turning it on for someone might.

Bigger projects are possible too. Online education can have all of the facets of in-person class attendance without the expense of clothing, transport, eating out, parking, classrooms or babysitters. Online courses have many outlets for expression, used alone or together: email, chat, forums, audio, visual, file-sharing, and presentations. The Diplo courses use all of these media. The United Nations Association of Venezuela’s (ANUV) online courses (http://www.anuv.info/id6.html) use reading materials and email consultations with a personal facilitator, in Spanish, without any bells and whistles, but give a very important alternative for Human Rights and related courses in Spanish. My own chain of links to involvement in an ANUV-Diplo partnership proposing a Spanish version of an IG Policy for Development course using the Diplo platform started from participation in an elections observer and Human Rights defender’s course in a small meeting room in Maracay, Venezuela, and will take me to the opening of the IGF Forum in Athens, Greece!