Stories of hope in the digital age
MANILA, Philippines - After George Carlo Junio, 21 years old, graduated from the Tarlac National High School, he found work as a bagger and displayer at a supermarket in his hometown. Later, he also worked as a laborer. But after his contract with the company expired, he found himself jobless.
“I was dismayed and lacked the interest to seek employment again,” he relates. “Until one day, I got news from a neighbor that there was a training program of Microsoft with our local government, the municipality of Santa Ignacia in the province of Tarlac.”
Junio is one of 10,000 students trained by Sutherland Global Services, a US-based global BPO provider and technology-enabled services, in partnership with Microsoft under its digital literacy program, which opened its first center in India in 2007. Their mission is “to provide technology access and skills training to underserved communities by establishing supplier-based Community Technology Centers (CTC) around the globe.” They found hospitable partners in several local governments in the Philippines provinces, one of which is Tarlac.
Tarlac governor Victor Yap remarked that it is their aim “to promote digital literacy in the population, not only in urban centers but also in far-flung villages. Tarlac is ready for connectivity,” he said, “thanks to Sutherland and Microsoft.”
After Junio completed the digital training program, he found a job at a techno park in Laguna where, through hard work, he was eventually promoted to office warehouseman, where part of his duties is making daily reports. “When I was a kid, I prayed nightly that I could get a college education,” he relates. “After the digital literacy program, it was almost like I had studied in college.”
With his new skill and job opportunities, he feels he is in a better position to help his poor parents. “We are committed to make a difference in the country, to build talent, to create employment,” remarked KS Kumar, Sutherland global head of operations. It is a long-term plan. “The CTC was established as part of Sutherland’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to strengthen the technical knowledge base of local, underserved communities. Its digital literacy curriculum consists of course material provided by Microsoft Learning and is designed to increase computer awareness and provide people with advanced technological skills aimed at increasing their employability.”
Classrooms are fully equipped with multimedia-enabled computers, Internet access, printers, digital teaching aids, and recreational technology.
“I attended the training because my friend invited me and said that they let them use the computer and Internet the whole week for free, plus they’ll be trained, so I attended with them,” Charisse Nerissa Jimenez from Capas, Tarlac, relates. “We learned a lot of things, most especially the things I didn’t know before were discussed such as MS Excel and MS Power Point. I enjoyed the training and the trainer was so encouraging that I am now employed with TESDA Philippines (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority), as a computer trainer, which I enjoy doing.”
Reymark Suliva, marketing officer at the Asian Institute of E-Commerce in Tarlac City, shared that 177 students from his school obtained digital literacy certificates within the period from February to April this year. Sutherland established their first operation in the Philippines in April 2009. The CTCs are located in the towns of Victoria, La Paz, and Santa Ignacia.
To date, in the Philippines, Sutherland has successfully certified over 3,383 trainees. Combined with two centers in Kochi and Chennai in India, Sutherland has trained over 11,000 individuals, 10,000 of whom obtained Microsoft Digital Literacy certificates. This is an outstanding achievement, considering its humble beginnings in India some five years ago.
“Bharat gave us only a small space in the cafeteria,” Dan Lang, Sutherland senior VP for Business Development-Americas, relates. Bharat Chadda is senior VP for Enterprise Accounts. “In our first year of operation, we served 1,200 people with the help of 97 local community organizations in India,” Lang recalls. “Today, we are excited and proud to say we have surpassed our goal of 10,000 graduates in India and the Philippines, and we are full steam ahead in establishing new milestones, including instituting similar programs in the United States.”
“A PC on every desk — time was when this seemed such a radical idea,” Rene Yoakum, general manager of Microsoft consumer support, remarked as he presented the Microsoft story. Today, Microsoft is found in 190 countries around the world. “Our goal is to get involved in communities,” he said, “to use technology to unleash creativity, to empower and to give back to the world.”
Santiago Baterina, 57, and his wife, Cristina, 52, took the Sutherland-Microsoft digital literacy program. “We enjoyed the training, despite our age,” Cristina shares. “Now we can enjoy using the laptop computer, which was given to us by our daughter. It helps take away stress and worry. We can communicate online with our relatives abroad.” Through their digital training, they have learned to keep “an open mind and embrace a new world of technology.”
For Charisse Jimenez, it was an “eye opener.” She said, “It showed me my destiny and goal in life: that is to help my fellow Filipinos to be highly competent in terms of technical knowledge that is world-class. And so I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sutherland and Microsoft for sponsoring this training and giving others the opportunity to learn computers and technology for free. This is one good way to improving one’s life. This is my eye opener.”
