RIO DE JANEIRO CITY HALL, CISCO and RIO 2016 FORM FIRST CLASS OF OLYMPIC CITY TECHNICAL COURSE
June 15th, 2016
Diploma in hand and a smile on face. So was the graduation ceremony of over 200 youngsters in the Olympic city technical programme, on 23 May, in Madureira. The project is an initiative from Cisco, official supporter of the Rio 2016 Games, in partnership with the Special Secretariat of Science and Technology of the city of Rio de Janeiro (SECT) and the Rio 2016 Committee, through the Abraça Programme.
There were over 1,200 hours and eight classes, held on Knowledge Ships, a Rio City Hall project that serves as a centre of digital inclusion in different neighbourhoods across the city.
The staging of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro brought the hope of a better future for cariocas. In order to promote integration into the labour market in the area of technology and income generation for youngsters from different communities, the course is preparing new professionals to work with technology partners during the Games and to fuel the market.
The Abraça Programme is together with Cisco, official supporter of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, in this social entrepreneurship with the goal of providing the market with new professionals, and principally to open doors for women in this area.
“We have an important mission to make the Olympic values and positive attitudes go beyond the Games and be the inspiration for the everyday behaviour of people, businesses and society. So it’s important to have a partner like Cisco on this journey and development of a social legacy and transformer to Rio. It’s been very gratifying to see that this market is also expanding to the female audience. We delivered diplomas to 33 female students, which shows the expansion of diversity in this sector, “says Tania Braga, Sustainability General Manager of Rio 2016”.
Cisco’s partnership with the Knowledge Ships project from City Hall also included the creation of multi-purpose spaces, equipped with the most modern technologies of collaboration. Over three tonnes of equipment for connectivity infrastructure and collaboration solutions from Cisco were installed, and was able to revolutionise the way people receive and share knowledge. Cisco is concentrating its efforts on building a lasting social legacy to Rio de Janeiro.
“Technology is an area with many possibilities for career development and professionals in this sector are in demand in the market, especially with the arrival of an event the size of the Games. We want to transform people’s lives and the cities we have been through, sharing knowledge and promoting inclusion through technology, “said Rodrigo Uchoa, Director of new business and Rio 2016 Project Coordinator on Cisco.
The methodology, tools and content used are the same as the Cisco Networking Academy Programme, complemented by content developed for training of professionals who will support networking technologies implemented for the stagingof the Olympic Games in Rio. This training will also enable young people to enter the IT market, regardless of whether they are hired to work at the Games. This is what we call legacy.