PRESS RELEASE
April 26, 2012
The Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN) launches STAR 1 to enable girls and young women to use computer technology to better their lives.
First partners are the Raspberry Pi Foundation, International Education Association, Aramex and Ruwwad for Development Founder Fadi Ghandour, and Wireless Wings
26 April, International Girls in ICT Day: The GTWN, a senior executive network dedicated to the “Changing Culture of Communications…from Generation to Generation” announced today that they have launched STAR 1 — a public/private partnership designed to help girls use computer technology to better their lives.
The STAR 1 project is a comprehensive program delivering a full scalable and replicable package consisting of affordable computers for children, a train-the-trainer ICT education program for computer programming, and a private/public-funding model.
For the hardware/operating system component, the GTWN is partnering with the Raspberry Pi Foundation(http://www.raspberrypi.org/about), a Cambridge UK-based charitable foundation making inexpensive computers the size of a deck of playing cards for education and developing-world applications. The Raspberry Pi Foundation released their first $25 USD computers for global sale in February, and sold out in minutes.
The GTWN is also working with IEA, The International Education Association (http://iea.org.lb/), a non-profit group committed to global partnerships in education based on the effective use of Information Communication Technology in and out of the classroom. IEA has successfully implemented programs for the United Nations Development Program and Cisco, among others throughout the world.
Funding, logistics and in-kind funding is being provided by the GTWN themselves and their partners, such as Aramex and Ruwwad for Development founder Fadi Gandhour (http://www.fadighandour.com/), and Wireless Wings (http://www.wirelesswings.com.ph/index.html), a new Angel Fund started by Myla Villanueva, serial entrepreneur and GTWN President Asia Pacific.
STAR 1 will launch its first project in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region and intends to roll the program out around the world, primarily in developing countries where the education of girls and young women today will be key to the future of the world.
For further information, please contact info@gtwn.org.