UNESCO Awards Venezuela for Providing Free Access to Internet

Caracas, 12 Jan. AVN .- On Wednesday Venezuelan Foundation Infocentros was awarded the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize in recognition of its work providing everyone with access to information and communication technologies to traditionally excluded sectors.

Infocentros president Nancy Zambrano, who was very pleased with the prize received, said it is recognition of the Foundation’s educational quality in technological matters, which has allowed more than one million people to become acquainted with information technologies.

“This prize is a recognition to the educational quality in technological matters we provide to our people. Especially, it is a recognition to the training process in the use of technologies for older adults,” she said.

Zambrano said the prize awarded by UNESCO to Infocentros shows the success of state-run policies to give access to new technologies to poor people; such as the national program of technological literacy (PNAT), which has trained 1.096 million people nationwide.

Thanks to the policies to give everyone access to education, in 2010 there were a total of 10,971,345 visits to Infocentros nationwide. This completely disproves the campaign launched by the counterrevolution about an alleged restriction over the Internet imposed by the National Government.

“These figures are very significant. Further, they counter the campaign that says the government limits access to the Internet,” Zambrano stressed.

The Infocentros president emphasized that the foundation provides tools for communities to use technology and develop instruments for their own benefit.

“What we increase is possibilities of internet for our people who were initially excluded. That is the experience provided by Infocentros,” she said.

The UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize was awarded to Venezuela in Paris this Wednesday. Infocentro’s work to provide new technologies made a very good impression on the jury and attendants, who praised the structure and mass scope technology literacy has had.

“We expect to have presence on the Internet to show the achievements of the Revolutionary Government, of communities. We are also playing a very significant role within the process with the work we carry out in Infocentro,” Zambrano stressed.

Edited by Venezuelanalysis.com