Asia and the Pacific Regional Youth Competition site

Youth Forum Alumni Competition

Deadline extended to 31st October 2009

Dear Youth Forum Alumni

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Asia Pacific Regional Office is pleased to announce a competition open for Youth Forum Alumni from the ITU Youth Forum at Telecom Asia 2008 held in Thailand that have already earned their Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited university by 30 September 2009. ITU is launching "Connecting a School, Connecting a Community", a new initiative to promote Internet access in schools so that schools can serve as community ICT centres. Connected schools can provide ICT access to their students and open the world of ICT-enabled education materials, digital libraries, and other valuable resources. In addition, schools can be open during off hours to provide education and job training for the community, promoting ICT access for women, indigenous people, and all people living in rural or under-served areas. Schools can also be equipped with assistive technologies to serve persons with disabilities, such as those who are hearing, speech or visually impaired.

In order to launch its initiative, ITU will research information about existing school connectivity initiatives, projects and plans. ITU seeks a junior researcher to assist in this work in order to identify best practices, potential partners, and pilot projects. One of the assignments of the junior researcher will include blogging in order to share information with government leaders, private industry and NGOs that are interested in connecting schools.

If you are interested in applying for this short-term post, you are invited to enter the blogging competition below by providng just a Sample Blog Entry. The author of the best blog entry will be selected to work with ITU on a part-time, work-at-home basis for up to US$ 9'000 of remuneration. Remember, you must have been awarded a bachelor’s degree by 30 September 2009 to be hired by ITU!

Interested applicants should conduct Internet-based research on existing school connectivity and community connectivity initiatives from the Asia Pacific region and write a sample blog entry of less than 500 words based on the research which includes a hyperlink to the initiative. The applicant can develop his/her blog to URL: http://groups.itu.int/ASPyouthblogs/ by 31 October 2009. Be sure to follow the guidelines below in preparing your sample blog entry for the competition.

Blog Competition Guidelines

A. Topics can include any of the following:

Paying for Internet access in schools:
- Government funding for Internet access in schools, including from universal service funds, public broadband access initiatives, financial stimulus packages, etc
- Private sector funding for Internet access in schools
- Public-private partnerships for Internet access in schools
ICT policies and regulations to promote school connectivity
Education policies and regulation to promote school connectivity
Universal service fund policies and regulations to promote school connectivity
Cost studies on school connectivity
Technological options for connecting schools
Training schools to maintain their Internet connectivity or laptops, install Wi-Fi, etc.
Policies and regulations about distributing low-cost laptops or other Internet access devices on a wide-scale basis (e.g. who provides service, training, content, applications, etc.)
ICT-enabled training for women, indigenous people, people with disabilities
Teacher training on ICT technology, curriculum and other content
Safety online for schools
Using schools as community ICT centers

B. Sources:

Please be sure to include hyperlinks for all sources. For example, if you refer to an article in an online newspaper, make sure you include the website for that newspaper.
If you use a news article that is written about a government or industry entity, try going to the original source to find out more information. For example, if there is an article about an initiative of a national regulator in a new article, go to the web page of the regulator and blog the regulator's press release.

C. Style

Be mindful that those selected to blog for ITU will be writing for the public and their blog entries will be read by hundreds of people around the globe.
Your competition blog entry should try to add value and provide worthwhile information and perspective that is timely.
All posts should be written in a neutral and non-judgmental manner rather than language that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory.
A blog post is supposed to be clear, concise, focused and not necessary exhaustive. An average blog entry would be 100-300 words long. It is not acceptable to have 2-3 screen-long blogs (5’000-6’000 words)

D. Language and Spell Check:

All entries for the competition must be written in English.
The interface of our blog will not have an integrated spell-check function. Whenever possible, use a spell-checker of an external application to double-check your text before submitting for the competition.

E. Pictures

Feel free to include interesting pictures in your competition entry.