What is DISH?
DISH is an e-learning platform developed to provide access to youth and women to develop employment skills. Through DISH, online short certificate courses of 3 months are created and made available. The courses increase the employability of youth and women because they link to key emerging sectors in employment and contribute to stability, peace and resilience.
Objectives
The objective of DISH is to increase enrolment in certificate education in order to increase employment possibilities. Especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, youth and women face challenges to find employment, while employers struggle to employ people with matching skills in fast-growing sectors in the employment market. The opportunities and sectors of employment have been identified through research by the partners in earlier programmes which identified key employment sectors for youth.
The DISH courses bridge that gap by focusing on low-threshold e-learning courses, which can be used in online and offline digital learning on a variety of devices and settings.
Certificate level
Each three-month course is designed to provide a certificate to students at pre-university level. The purpose of the certificate is to aid in employment in the sectors emerging sectors mentioned above. Successful completion of one or more courses courses also helps prepare for further education.
Target group
The courses are aimed at youth and women who have been particularly impacted by unemployment and who struggle to access (further) education. This includes second-school graduates, but also dropouts. DISH courses can be adapted for students with internet access or without internet access, in order to facilitate students who do not have constant connectivity.
Areas of employment
|
Course |
Area of employment |
|
Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Diplomacy (PBCRD) |
Assistant mediator or assistant at local administrative offices |
|
Peace Communication, ICT and Media (PCICTM) |
Communication assistant |
|
Legal Justice System (curriculum Rule of Law, RoL) |
Legal clerk assistant |
|
Community and customary law (CCL)
|
Legal clerk assistant |
|
Business administration (BA) |
Starting entrepreneur or administration / accounting assistant at small or medium sized businesses |
|
Computer Science Level 1 (CS1)
|
IT assistant |
|
Computer science Level 2 (CS2) |
IT assistant, beginning programmer |
|
Computer science Level 3 (CS3) |
Assistant data steward |
|
Community Mental Health (CMH) |
Assistant community mental health worker |
|
Community health (CH) |
Assistant community health worker |
|
Primary school teaching (PST) |
Primary school teaching assistant |
DISH courses
DISH currently offers 11 courses which focus on key skills for employment, resilience and stability. All courses also include personal resilience and life skill parts. Students can enroll in more than one course.
All courses offer guidance and mentors that can help students make the next step to employment. If students come up with a good business proposal, they can be awarded further guidance and funding to further develop their idea.
The following courses are available:
|
Full courses (3 months) |
Description |
|
1. Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Diplomacy (PBCRD)
|
Conflicts can occur between countries, communities, within companies and families. This course focuses on skills that students can use to resolve conflicts, such as language, communication, and mediation. |
|
2. Peace Communication, ICT and Media (PCICTM) |
This course will teach students the language of peace. It will build skills for them to communicate online and offline, like journalism. Students learn to effectively communicate their message and engage with their audience. |
|
3. Legal Justice System (curriculum Rule of Law, RoL)
|
This course will teach basic skills and foundations of law and the justice systems. From traditional justice to international justice, the course teaches students what they need to obtain a certificate showing that they master the basics of the legal justice system and the Rule of Law. |
|
4. Community and customary law (CCL)
|
Community and Customary Law is focused on the traditional aspects of justice and community. It covers governance, customary law, and the principles of mediation. Gender and customary law are also key aspects in this course. |
|
5. Business administration (BA)
|
Business Administration will teach students what they need to know about working in the private sector or setting up their own business. From start to finish, the course covers economic principles and regulations, teaches about finances and investment, and educates on what is needed to start up on one’s own business, and how to keep your books and accounting in order. |
|
6. Computer Science Level 1 (CS1)
|
The digital world is growing fast and offers new opportunities for young professionals. Computer Science Level 1 teaches the basic computer skills and Information technology support and project management. It also teaches students how to put these skills to use to gain employment. |
|
7. Computer science Level 2 (CS2)
|
Students who know the basics of computer science or have completed Computer Science level 1 can enroll in computer science level 2. This course introduces the students to programming language, data science and business intelligence. It also allows students to choose an optional tech-skills module. |
|
8. Computer science Level 3 (CS3)
|
Students who have more advanced computer skills or who have completed the other Computer Science courses can enroll in Computer Science 3. This course covers the cutting edge of data and making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). After this training, students will be ready to work with the newest data developments. |
|
9. Community Mental Health (CMH)
|
This course teaches students the basics of becoming an assistant in mental health and apply a short programme that reduces stress and builds community resilience. The course teaches students to recognise the challenges in communities, to roll out the resilience programme within communities, and to work with the medical services. It also teaches students to address issues such as violence, suicide and parenting problems. |
|
10. Community health (CH) |
This course trains students to become an assistant community health worker. In three months, the course covers the basics of healthcare, including maternity and child health, immunization, first aid, hygiene and treatment of common diseases.. It also shows students how to deal with COVID-19 and other emerging health crises in their community. |
|
11. Primary school teaching (PST) |
The course on primary school teaching will educate students on the basics of how to be a teacher. The course gives students an overview of what information children should learn and how they can effectively communicate this to them. At the end of the course, you will be assisted to do an internship at a school to put your new skills to work. |
Life skills
Furthermore, all DISH courses offer a set of core competencies that are part of the student’s life skills, in order to guide them towards stability and employment. This includes short courses on Life Skills, Introducing Peace and Conflict Resolution, Basics in Health, Hygiene and COVID-19 prevention, and community resilience.
DISH partnership
The DISH platform was established with 12 partners in Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Netherlands to implement two projects funded under the Orange Knowledge Programme managed by Nuffic and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The DISH range from Universities to civil society organisations. They include East Africa University and Eastern College in Somalia; the Sudanese Organisation for Research and Development (SORD) in Sudan; Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO) in South Sudan; Mekelle University, Aksum University, Admas University, Addis Ababa University, and Adwa Pan-African University in Ethiopia; Kampala International University in Uganda, Leiden University, and the NGO Action Africa Help International. Tilburg University in the Netherlands assists the partnership.
The projects contribute to peace building, employment for vulnerable youth and women, and strengthening resilience. Through building capacity on e-learning and development of 11 low-threshold skill-based courses, the projects will graduate around 13.000 youth/women in employable areas enhanced with digital innovation and increase capacities of authorities to utilize new opportunities of digitalization and data sharing.
About the Orange Knowledge Programme
The projects are supported by the Orange Knowledge Programme, a Dutch global development programme, available in 54 developing countries and managed by Nuffic, a Dutch non-profit organisation for internationalisation in education. Launched mid-2017, it aims to have provided tens of thousands with the possibility to change their future through education and training by mid-2022. The programme is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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