Community Technology Access (CTA) Centres have been initiated in several countries by UNHCR to provide access to computers, computer literacy, and connectivity, to UNHCR’s persons of concern. These include refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), hosting communities, and returning refugees or IDPs.

Community Technology Access (CTA)-Nakivale was initiated through the direct funding by Australian donors’ for UNHCR in 2010. The CTA was initially equipped with 40 workstations donated through partnership of HP and Microsoft and also powered by 80 solar-power system which were installed in 2010. The Centre enrolls an average of 250 students in a year for Computer training, Entrepreneurship, English learning & e-learning.

CTA-Nakivale is also a hub of activity where handful of young innovators have managed to leverage their access to e-jobs, e-learning, and developing ICT projects.

Vision: Empowering refugee men, women and youth through the access to Technology

Mission: Enabling education and livelihood opportunities through safe access to sustainable and innovative technology

Purpose: The purpose of the CTA programme is to enhance educational and livelihood opportunities for UNHCR’s persons of concern and their host communities through access to information and communication technologies.

Objectives:

• To deliver basic computer literacy and certification to school children, youth and adults
• To increase competencies of trainers
• To enhance livelihood skills for out of school youth and adults through life skills, vocational and technical skills training
• To foster entrepreneurship and job opportunities through access to ICT facilities and business services for both displaced populations and their host communities
• To promote ownership and sustainable management of the CTAs to entrepreneurs from refugee or host communities

The programme objectives are to expand access to learning opportunities, increased capacity for creating local solutions and employment and successful management of an ongoing cycle of measurement and integration of lessons learned.