Internet Access and Training Program (IATP)

IATP News from Western Eurasia

December 18, 2004 - January 6, 2005

UKRAINE

US Congressmen and ECA alumni
pose after the meeting in the IATP
access site in Lviv

ECA Alumni and American Congressmen Discuss Real Picture of Ukraine
On December 22, the IATP access site in Lviv, Ukraine, organized a meeting of the ECA Alumni Club with US Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) in collaboration with the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Ukraine. Natalia Salo (FLEX 01) moderated the dialogue between the alumni and the congressmen. The event participants discussed the situation in Ukraine after the country’s second round of the presidential elections. The American guests expressed their viewpoint on the development of democracy in Ukraine while exhibiting a non-partisan position that clearly supported free and unbiased elections in Ukraine. The alumni shared their opinion on the future prospects of Ukraine’s development, their desire to promote democracy, and their support for freedom in the country. This discussion will help the alumni to contribute to Ukraine’s well-being by inspiring them with the support of the US Congress.

IATP Provides Dial-up Internet Access

In 2004, IATP provided approximately 2,500 alumni of US government-sponsored programs with dial-up Internet access;
More than 650 nongovernmental organizations received free dial-up Internet access from IATP in 2004;
More than 220 alumni published academic materials online as a direct result of having free dial-up Internet access.

IATP Ukraine Initiates Discussion of the Political Situation before the Third Round of Presidential Elections in Ukraine
On December 24, IATP access sites throughout Ukraine hosted alumni of US government-sponsored exchange programs, journalists, NGO representatives, and other interested people for a countrywide Internet conference dedicated to the widely watched situation in Ukraine two days before the third round of presidential elections. IATP initiated and moderated the productive discussion that focused on the prevention of a potential east-west separation and on encouraging mutual understanding between people with different political preferences. The participants shared their ideas on how alumni could contribute to uniting people from different regions of Ukraine. They came to the conclusion that problems and myths borne during the presidential elections should not separate regions of Ukraine regardless of their political viewpoints and cultural differences. IATP Ukraine will continue these dialogues to improve communication vital to the future of Ukraine.

MOLDOVA

award ceremony
Maxim Cataraga (right) receives his
WebTop award for development of
the website for Natalia Dadiani
High School

IATP-Hosted Websites Win New WebTop Trophies in Moldova
On December 16, four IATP-hosted websites were announced among the winners of the WebTop 2004 Awards. The awards ceremony was organized by the Soros Foundation, the Globnet Internet Solutions Provider, the Moldova Development Gateway Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program in Moldova. The contest proved extremely competitive, and the website contestants impressed the audience and the judges. IATP Moldova repeated its success last year in the category for student websites and won two first prizes for the websites of Glodeni High School and Natalia Dadiani High School. The author of the latter website, former IATP Chisinau Intern Maxim Cataraga, also won second place in the same category with his personal website. The website of Crihana Veche Public Library also won a special prize in the Rural Web category. The record number of WebTop awards for IATP Moldova energized its team of talented Web designers to strive for new achievements in the future.

IATP users
IATP staff shows participants how to
develop courses for the DL portal

IATP Opens the World of Online Distance Learning to Lecturers in Chisinau
On December 27 and 28, IATP staff delivered a presentation on the IATP Distance Learning (DL) portal for nine lecturers at the Institute of Sciences located in Chisinau, Moldova. The trainer stressed that DL matches the skills and needs of people otherwise separated by time and space and allows people to learn without taking them away from their home and current work place. The participants then practiced development of their DL courses with the supervision and guidance of IATP staff, who demonstrated how to test students’ knowledge and how to extract course statistics within the DL portal. The participants noted the advantages of distance learning and promised to contribute to the development of the IATP DL portal with their own courses.