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Making
IT Work for Indonesia
Computer
Training for laid-offs from The Indonesian Banking Industry
Among those most severely affected by the regional
monetary and economic crises that had swept Indonesia in 1998 was
the country's banking industry. The impact was extensive, as the
government was forced to close down a large number of private banks
in the country. The ultimate victims were the banks' employees,
17,000 of whom lost their jobs almost overnight.
Microsoft always believes in the importance of
fulfilling public purpose and promoting community welfare. Our "Making
IT Work for Indonesia" program aimed to promote the IT skills
of the laid-off bank employees. It was designed to provide new hopes
for those traumatized by an abrupt and mostly undeserved interruption
in their earning power. It was expected that a certificate from
the program would provide these unfortunate groups of people with
an additional tool to get a new job or to become a trainer and go
out on their own to train others. A two-day hands-on course on desktop
applications may not sound like much of a tool, but in a country
that had not as yet fully tapped the potential of computer technology
and IT, it may prove to be the competitive advantage needed to land
a new job. This program is aimed at harnessing the potential of
computer technology for the benefit of the common people.
 The training program had a target of 5,000 former
bank employees, who were grouped based on their career potentials.
The Desktop Group consisted of end-users, while the IT Staff Group
comprised members who had previously worked in the IS department.
The "Making IT Work for Indonesia" program ran
for one full year until the end of 2000. In the end, the total number
of trainees surpassed the initial target of 5,000. Microsoft Indonesia
was not alone in providing the program. It was joined by some of
its partners, including Hewlett-Packard, ExecuTrain, Sarana Solusindo
Informatika, Microsindo Pratama and ElexMedia Komputindo.
When these bank employees lost their job, Microsoft responded by
donating more than US$ 100,000 in both cash and software to STIMIK
Perbanas to enable it to provide the computer training programs
for them. In the one year period until the end of 2000, the program
trained and gave certificates to more than 5,000 former employees
from liquidated banks.
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