The Iraqi MOE has put forth a reasonable proposal for developing educational computing in a very small proportion of the schools in Iraq (two hundred schools). The war and the aftermath of sanctions have greatly damaged the professional development infrastructure need to teach children, as teachers and education professors have had little access to information and expertise about new developments in the rapidly fields of education.

The development of educational computing, the Internet and international access to counterparts has created explosive growth within the education profession over the last seven years. In Iraq, however, sanctions have, perhaps inadvertently, created a critical intellectual embargo against teachers and students.

Without access to the current developments in the education profession, an entire generation of bright Iraqi children will be unable to manage a stable national economy increasingly based on global market competition and information technology. We cannot forget that education is humanitarian assistance for the future.

Today the United Nations humanitarian assistance operations in Iraq require complex educational computing skills. Simple office tasks such as report generation from multiple worksites (file transfer, word processing with tables and charts, desktop publishing), and transparent reporting systems for office supplies and equipment procurement (spreadsheets, database management and accounting). In addition, traditional boundaries between professionals and support staff are breaking down, as professionals themselves need to use computers for office work.

The lack of a cadre of skilled Iraqi nationals to support necessary high quality office management practices is impeding the UN's efforts to invest both its and the Iraqi government's limited resources as efficiently as possible. The UN's investments could be more efficient if there were a professional training program for learning English for special purposes such as office management, health, agriculture, civil engineering and other professional areas related to humanitarian assistance purposes.

UNESCO can offer important partnerships with the Iraqi MOE to help lift the intellectual embargo so that teachers can ensure that this modern, technological country does not lose a generation of skilled professionals and managers so vital to its future.

Establish joint MOE/UNESCO working group, tentatively headed by the UNESCO representative (as a gesture of firm commitment). Representation on the working group should include those with expertise in technology, logistics and education content.

UNESCO members should not be paid because it should be part of their work responsibilities. MOE members should be paid expenses and a small honorarium because their efforts should be in addition to their regular workload. Working group members should meet weekly. They should have sufficient resources to hire experts as needed.

Emphasis should be on the collection of high quality data, so that it can serve as the basis for strategic planning for future UN/MOE initiatives.

A three to five-year strategic plan should be developed which fairly and reasonably explains how education is a necessary contribution to the future stability of the nation and the region. It should include:

• an environmental scan of present strengths and weaknesses that is developed from appropriate quantitative and qualitative education indicators
• an assessment of the anticipated future consequences of maintaining the status quo
• program plans to restore academic achievement and standards
• program plans to link education and community development through public health and local enterprise
• capital and operating budgets that include revenue generation plans for sustainable cash flows
• plans for the development of adequate logistical tracking and security systems
• an information system and technology plan to ensure adequate operations, management and decision support
• an education computing plan

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

Develop a cooperative MOE/UNESCO plan to address the sanctions committee concerns and develop plans for longer term educational computing partnerships

The working group should prepare an outline for a strategic plan for education computing to make a case before the sanctions committee. The plan should show how education computing fits into the larger education sector renewal planning. The education computing plan should include at least two topics:

1. Education computing's contribution to the humanitarian assistance efforts of the UN

• Education computing is a necessary component for competent office management
• International agencies need adequately trained office management personnel for humanitarian assistance agencies
• Word processing skills are needed for office documentation.
• Spreadsheet skills are needed for transparent budgeting and logistical systems
• Foreign language skills
• Without substantial and immediate investments in education computing, the Iraqis will be unable to develop adequate compliance and logistical support systems for planning transparency and security
• Adequate accounting and logistical systems are urgently needed to track 966 operations from procurement through disposal

1. Education computing's contribution to technological stability

• Iraq was a technologically sophisticated country before the war
• Technology economies are very complex and interrelated
• Technology economies rest on reliable information systems that can control, sequence and schedule work
• Technology information systems can be more fragile than more agrarian economies (e.g. air conditioning and refrigeration systems)
• Technology is a major security issue because of the high downside risk that can be created by its collapse.
• The loss of a technologically literate generation of children will have grave consequences for future security issues
• Without substantial and immediate investments in education computing, the decaying technological infrastructure may lead to catastrophic failures and very high costs for renewal

Operationalize plans for development center and twenty schools

1. Initiate a professional development center with the MOE and UNESCO through the UNESCO National Commission.

• It should emphasize the need for continuous innovation in life-long professional learning communities.
• It should have several areas of specialization, the exact number to be determined jointly by the MOE and UNESCO. The following topics should be addressed:
• education computing for office management purposes
• educational computing for learning English for special purposes (office management, etc..)
• It should relate directly to income generation so center staff will be permitted to sell both professional services and center-created materials directly to the local economy.
• It should have a fully equipped educational computer lab with thirty computers and a professional library for training in educational computing.
• It should have desktop publishing and printing capacities for the development of locally produced materials.
• It should have secured access to UNESCO and other related high quality education sites.
• It should have distance education and video conferencing capacities within three years.

• At the end of one year, the professional development center should be linked to twenty schools with computer labs with adequately trained staff, vital technological infrastructure support and strict security.

• The system should begin with procurement requests, and track by individual ID numbers (components if necessary) from shipping to Iraq, border pickup and transportation, warehouse security, installation, location security, maintenance and parts replacement, and disposal.

• Consider multiple income streams including government support for teacher training, income generation from the sales of professional services and materials (e.g. translation, training for HA agencies, NGOs and businesses), and from sponsorships, both internal and external.

• Operationalize second phase by extending the number of schools to one hundred.
• Extend development center to include a more complex range of specializations and professional services.
• Plan for third phase by extending the number of schools to three hundred.
• Develop mentoring system for technical support

• Develop plans for continuous upgrades.