U.S. Government donates computers to start Jaffna training center

(September 29, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The U.S. Embassy in Colombo reports that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided computers to help establish a computer training center and provide job training to youth in Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka.

USAID, the development agency of the U.S. Government, provided computers to the All Ceylon Hindu Congress Research and Study Center in Jaffna to establish a computer training facility. The All Ceylon Hindu Congress is a training partner of the Unlimited Potential Partnership program (UPP), a project funded by USAID, Microsoft and Infoshare. With these new resources, the Center will train disadvantaged and internally displaced students from Jaffna and the surrounding rural area in information technology (IT) skills, which are needed to increase job opportunities, especially in media and tourism.

UPP provides IT training across Sri Lanka to support workforce development in the tourism, apparel, media, and agriculture sectors. This project partners with Sri Lankan government and private training institutes to teach basic IT skills to over 11,250 youth from across the country by 2010. The Jaffna project will focus on training for the tourism and media sectors, where employment opportunities are most promising.

-Sri Lanka Guardian