Policy report on UNHCR's community technology access program: Best practices and lessons learned

Abstract

This report gives an overview of UNHCR's Community Technology Access (CTA) program, which aims to improve education and livelihood opportunities for displaced populations via technology. The paper analyzes the key findings of a comprehensive external evaluation of the program conducted in 2012. According to the evaluation, the areas of greatest positive impact for people of concern were in the enjoyment of basic rights to freedom of expression and information, in building relationships with the host community, and social networking. However, access to technology alone is not sufficient to achieve the goals of quality education and self-reliance. Therefore, the evaluation recommends developing strategic, contextualized education and livelihood content and tools in order to achieve the desired goals of learning, skills, and access to employment, as well as a reassessment of CTAs' potential for operational and fiscal autonomy in different countries.