PTC - Carnegie Mellon University Cooperation

by:  Joe Mertz, Ph.D., Program Director, Technology Consulting in the Global Community, Carnegie Mellon University

PTC members have a new avenue for effective corporate social responsibility and bridging the digital divides in the Pacific region.  PTC is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University’s Technology Consulting in the Global Community (TCinGC) program to help technologically underserved communities throughout the Pacific region improve their use of ICT.

Since its inception, part of the PTC’s mission has been to rally members around efforts “to overcome uneven development and competency divides.”  TCinGC has a track record of success working with governments and non-profit entities to build their capacity to use, manage, and sustain their use of ICTs.  This selective program trains and deploys university students with valuable technology skills to serve as ICT consultants.

Student Consultant works with a colleague at the hospital on database training and development through a partnership with the Ministry of Health, Palau, in the summer of 2006

In some ways it is similar to a short term (10 week) technology-focused Peace Corps.
Because the need is as vast as the Pacific, the vision for this program is ambitious:

Each year, a large corps of highly talented students from the best universities fan out into the Pacific region to bring information and communications technology consulting expertise to governments and nonprofit organizations in order to systematically overcome uneven development and competency divides.

In the past four years, the program has placed students in Chile, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, India, the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Sri Lanka.  They have worked in Ministries of Education, Health, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs and an Office of the Prime Minister.  They have also worked in schools and non-profits.

Students worked with partners at the Ministry of Health on database projects through David Rykken, Chief, Ancillary Services Division.

Their outcomes have included:

• Helped the Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister create its first e-Government strategy

• Planned and installed a computer network, troubleshot computing infrastructure, installed a Microsoft Exchange server, and trained hospital staff on e-mail, office applications, and network resources with the Bureau of Kwajalein Atoll Health Care Services in Ebeye, Marshall Islands.

• Created computer curricula geared to Sri Lankan children whose families were impacted by the 2004 tsunami.

• Wrote a business plan with the Centro Informatico, Universidad Austral de Chile to provide technology consulting services to their region.

• Created a web site with the Cook Islands Ministry of Health to communicate public health information.

• Developed databases to support the administration of ancillary service departments in the Palau Ministry of Health.

Student consultants work with colleagues at the hospital through a partnership with the Ministry of Health, Palau.

There are many ways that PTC members can get involved:

Commercial members can provide financial support for the program.  Involvement allows your company to make a significant contribution in your own country or in the region.  Your brand identity will be carried into the helping relationships that the student consultants have with leaders in governments and local nonprofits.  You will have the opportunity to meet and assess students who are not only technically-talented, but also have the cultural intelligence to build your company’s success in the global marketplace.

Government and nonprofit members can use the program to bring talented assistance into their organizations.  For example, David Rykken of the Palau Ministry of Health wrote: “[The TCinGC student consultants] were able to complete in 10 weeks what the Ministry of Health has wanted to accomplish for years, which is appropriate department level data bases that can be maintained internally for rational decision making.”
Academic members can become involved as advisors, recruit their best students into the program, and benefit from having eyes on-the-ground to identify new opportunities for research.