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Project Background
World Links, established in 1997 within the World Bank, is now a program jointly coordinated by the World Bank's World Links for Development Program (WorLD) and the World Links Organization, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. This international program, currently in twenty-seven developing countries around the world, works with Ministries of Education and secondary schools to promote the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to enhance teaching and learning.
With support from public and private sector partners, World Links has established over 700 school-based Internet Learning Centers. The World Links program focuses on professional development workshops for students and teachers on how computers and the Internet can be used as resources across the curriculum.
As part of an ongoing series of workshops, schools participate in a number of online collaborative projects, on topics as diverse as border disputes, solid waste management, bullying, traditional medicine, and HIV/AIDS.
In 2000, students and teachers from fifteen schools in four African countries - Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe - signed up to learn more about HIV/AIDS through the project's educational activities. The first round of the project culminated at the 13th Annual International AIDS Conference, held for the first time in Africa in July 2000 in Durban, South Africa. One teacher and student from each of the four countries attended the weeklong conference.
Due to student enthusiasm, and the continuing epidemic, World Links decided to sponsor the HIV/AIDS Collaborative Project for a second year. In 2001, the collaboration was even more dynamic because of the skills and expertise new partners brought to the project. A total of 21 schools and 205 participants joined the discussion, from March to September 2001.
The World Links HIV/AIDS Online Collaborative Project is now in its third year, and has begun an expanded partnership with the Alliance for Global Learning. Beginning in October 2001, with funding from the United States Department of State, the third round of the project has over 30 schools and nearly 300 teachers and students from seven countries, including the United States, participating.
