Rasha Essmat Hassan Hussein Tawfik

Rasha Essmat Hassan Hussein Tawfik

رشا عصمت توفيق

Age: 39 years old
Position at Telecentre: Head of IT department
Years in Service (at current telecentre):  15  years  
Years in Service (at current position):  16 years
City: Cairo
Country: Egypt 

Telecentre/Employer Information

Name of Telecentre: Integrated Care Society–The Cultural Center
Country: Cairo
Region: Middle    East    and   North  Africa    
Name of Nominating Individual/Entity: NA

Background:

I've been working with ICS (Integrated Care Society) since 1997; I worked as an IT specialist and then became the head of IT department. During 15 years I contributed  to spread  the culture of computer technology in Egypt as we  launched a pilot project called "Twenty first century club", the success of this  project  contributed to  circulate  the idea throughout Egypt under the name: "Information technology clubs".  I  think  Being creative  in what you introduce is the  key word behind my continuation. 
We introduce unique programs for children, youth and adults. We don't only provide  training sessions on how to use computer programs but also we provide sessions on how to  benefit  from computer technology in  our  lives such as (Young journalist program, Interactive media classes,  Peace culture...Etc.)  in addition to the workshops which depends upon CV  and  biography  writing  which supported lots of people to find jobs after posting their CVs on the recruitment websites.

My current job responsibilities as a head of IT department in brief are: 
- Designing training programs and workshops  enhance  ICS staff  skills on how to use the computer technology to raise their efficiency to keep up linking with the advanced technology systems.
- Developing and auditing training materials for cultural workshops and Computer sessions which provided for ICS staff and patrons.
- Preparing special programs for children, youth, adults, parents and librarians which gather soft skills with computer applications especially in the summer activities program. (Ex. Young journalist program, young scientist program, the peace culture …etc.)
- Training computer programs for Adults, youth and children which depend upon project developing, teamwork skills and creativity.
- Discovering  and  Coaching  talented young people  who can participate in different local & global collaborations such as thinkQuest, iEARN international projects & conferences, young master's program and Global environmental youth convention & etc…
- Coordinating between ICS and international organizations (NGOs) to establish collaborative projects in the field of empowering youth and intercultural dialogue.
- Contributing in writing call for proposals to have grants from several institutions to sustain our projects and establish new innovative programs.

Contribution to Digital Literacy and Community Development:

Through my work I was able to form a network of well trained trainers who have trained many trainers in the various governorates of Egypt. We succeed to enable them of human development programs to qualify them at the highest level, which enabled us to host many of the digital literacy programs in our organization  (Integrated Care Society) such as  training  staff in various sectors and  training  the category  nursing staff  in public hospitals.  This has led to networking and partnership with many international organizations and institutions such as Microsoft, Anna Lindh Foundation for  the dialogue between cultures. We work also with many public libraries as stakeholders such as Misr public libraries in Egypt to concrete efforts to raise the level of professional qualification in various sectors.
In addition  to the above; our  efforts we have made  in digital literacy  for women during the last 15 years, we started with  parents  of  children  and young people  coming  on the activities of  our organization and then extended it to include many aspects of care and the empowerment of women to market their projects electronically through small programs intended for that purpose.
I think the best statement  I've ever heard  is: "You changed my life, now I can follow up my sons and be aware of what's happening in this world...I can be benefited as I can benefit the world". 

Leadership, Partnership and Resource Mobilisation:

Most of what we offer  is special programs for young people that affect strengthening their  leadership skills and encourage them to participate and engage in various projects in partnership with their counterparts from various countries around the world through conferences, committees  and volunteering works in different occasions.  I used to coach projects with my students through  iEARN educational network, and also Young Masters Program which concentrate on environmental studies  in cooperation with the Institute of Environmental Economics at the University of Lund (IIIEE), Sweden, and other various programs.

This year  we  also  provided a very creative training program which is "Young  scientist program", it combines science experiments and scientific  knowledge  with  the use of computers  in  different researches. Premised on the importance of computer use in education (computer assisted instruction), not only teaching the computer software as a separate track.

Although we faced lots of challenges this year during our glorious January revolution in Egypt and we had financial problems refers to  the  budget. We were able to meet those challenges  by  attracting a large segment of children,  young people  and  parents;  we  provided  many courses and free workshops especially for orphaned children and talented ones.

We were able to communicate with many international and local organizations to achieve sustainability to continue exporting the culture of information technology, and we were able to prepare an integrated program for university students  to qualify them  in the basic computer programs and helping them to get certified with ICDL certificate in addition to giving them special courses in human development as well as English language courses in one training program  that  addresses the  deficiencies  of our educational systems.

We were also able to reach people at disadvantaged areas who are not capable to come to our location, we sent our trainers to different public libraries,  schools and also institutions around Egypt governorates  to introduce computer courses for those who cannot  reach Cairo as a capital city. We also used our Mobile library (bus moving to different locations) after facilitating it with PCs and Internet access to provide unique services for underserved areas.