OREALC, the Regional Office of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, which is part of UNESCO, on Tuesday (June 1) agreed with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to jointly promote the development of digital talent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The two sides signed a letter of intent at an online forum organised by OREALC Santiago and Huawei on Tuesday, saying they have identified a number of potential areas of cooperation such as the development of digital abilities for women and children and digital literacy programmes for teachers.

They will also work together to help provide training in digital abilities in vulnerable populations. They will organise events such as webinars and workshops to drive awareness about the importance of inclusive digital talent development.

Speaking at the forum on Tuesday, Claudia Uribe Salazar, director of OREALC, said that it is part of the aim of UNESCO to help promote inclusive education and that the joint effort is in line with the goal of UNESCO in seeking to mobilise the civil society and the private sector for the achievement of its strategic goals in terms of education.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, UNESCO has been actively working with the ministries of education, and has been partnering with the private sector to respond in an effective way to its effects, taking into consideration the diversity of contexts and realities of our region. We are ensuring that field work is responding to the specific needs of local communities and countries, and is being implemented in a participative, collaborative, and consensual way. Information and Communication Technologies are being key allies in offering remote and flexible learning,” she said.

“The Letter of Intent is the result of a work of various months between UNESCO and HUAWEI during which both institutions have been sharing visions, experiences and plans for the future of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, and have been prioritising areas of common work such as ICT competencies for teachers.”

Catherine Chen, director of Huawei Technologies, said that Huawei has invested in digital talent development around the world and has significantly increased such investment in recent years as part of its corporate social responsibility.

“The digital talent has become an essential bedrock of the new digital economy and an important pillar of future prosperity,” she said.

“We are happy to find partners who are working for the same cause of growing the digital talent pool for our future.

“It is important for the public and private sectors to work together for the cause of inclusive talent development. We would like to help bridge the digital gap, one of the most important challenges we face in this digital era,” she added.

OREALC was created in 1963 with the purpose of supporting member states in improving their educational systems, with the firm conviction that education is a human right for everyone, throughout life.

Huawei has been actively promoting the development of digital talent development and inclusive digital education in recent years, through projects such as the Seeds for the Future, its flagship corporate social responsibility programme; the Huawei ICT Academy, in which it has partnered with universities and colleges around the world to help offer training in digital technologies and offering certification to ICT talents. In addition, it runs the global ICT Competitions with winner teams from various countries.

Huawei brought the Seeds for the Future programme to Colombia in 2014 and has since then awarded 1,000 scholarships to students in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The scholarships cover costs to travel to China and receive trainings in ICT technologies at the headquarters of Huawei and have cross-cultural exchanges.

Huawei has also partnered with some 200 universities in the Huawei Academy Programme and have helped train over 50,000 students and teachers in recent years.

Teams of students and teachers from the region have won some categories of the global ICT Competition in recent years, including those from Brazil and Colombia.

In addition, Huawei has also offered free online courses in 5G, cloud and artificial intelligence, giving free access to lectures by its experienced engineers and lecturers.

Such efforts are in line with its principle of building connectivity and promoting inclusive development and that it aims to do more with partners, the company said.

Huawei was established in Shenzhen, China in 1987 and has grown to be the global ICT leader providing digital infrastructure and smart devices.