'E-Learning for life'.

• Position: Partnerships - Coca-Cola Co. and the United Nations - Brief Article

The Coca-Cola Company has expanded its partnership with the United Nations system this past year, particularly in the areas of information and communications technology (ICT) education and HIV/AIDS prevention. As one innovative example, Coca-Cola has teamed up with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to bridge the digital divide in Malaysia and launched in March 2002 the project called "E-learning for life" with the Malaysian Ministry of Education. Supporting the Malaysian Government's vision to build a knowledge-based economy, the project will bring e-learning opportunities and ICT training and access to students, teachers and local communities.

Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sen Dr. Mahathir Mohamad praised Coca-Cola and UNDP for an "innovative and timely initiative" that will help "many, many Malaysians to grasp the opportunities of the emerging information age". The project in Malaysia (see photograph at right) is the latest in a series of community partnerships Coca-Cola has launched in Asia to support local efforts to bridge the digital divide.

In the Philippines, Coca-Cola is partnering with the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development in an initiative called "Coca-Cola ed.venture", which is placing ICT labs in 15 remote public high schools across the country, benefiting some 10,000 children aged 13 to 17. This programme is also providing ICT training courses for hundreds of teachers. Coca-Cola has launched similar ICT education programmes in China, Viet Nam and Australia. In China, the first "Coca-Cola e-learning centre" was opened in a primary school on the outskirts of Beijing.

A nationwide project run in partnership with the China Youth Development Foundation, this initiative is bringing digital resources and e-learning opportunities to teachers, less-advantaged young people and rural communities throughout China. About 10,000 Chinese students will benefit from the programme in its first phase, in...