Session 1: Familiarisation with the UAP equipment and Community of Practice

The government of Vanuatu in 2013 passed an Act with the goal for improving access to telecommunications services for locations which are not or not adequately served by existing services. This UAP was developed and passed by the Council of Ministers on 4 November 2013 and is supported through a number of ICT projects involving multiple stakeholders over many years. Improving access to telecommunications often means bringing technology where none existed before. Bringing technology to remote rural areas comes with a number of challenges such as maintenance of the equipment, training of people, fostering a community of users to learn how to effectively make use of these technologies and addressing the dark side of technology and the Internet. Central to Vanuatu's UAP strategy is the concept of schools as hubs, sharing Internet connectivity, digital resources and skills. In this session participants get their first familiarisation with technologies of rural UAP sites and learn how to be part of a community of users that will help each other as their learning progresses.