Call for Applications

CITEL’s Working Group on Capacity Building and Human Resources Development, along with CITEL’s Secretariat, has as its primary objective to strengthen CITEL’s efforts regarding scholarships and training courses of interest to CITEL/OAS member states.

Following up on CITEL’s schedule of courses for 2025 (COM/CITEL/RES. 329 (XLI-23)) and thanks to the 400 scholarships generously offered by the Internet Society (ISOC) once again this year as a continuation of its commitment to the 2030 ICT Alliance for the Americas, according to their objective of “promoting the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people around the world,” the Internet Society and CITEL are pleased to announce the call for applications to participate in the courses: “Community Networks Readiness Assessment”, and “Building Wireless Community Networks,” which will be held online. The first course is from 5 May to 6 June 2025, and the second one is from 23 June to 25 July 2025.

The deadline for registration is 25 April 2025 (12:00 PM EST, Washington, DC).

Course Details

Community Networks Readiness Assessment (5 May–6 June 2025)

This course covers the critical aspects to be considered regarding the deployment and sustainability of a community network. It will provide methods for analyzing and assessing whether a community network has favorable conditions for its successful deployment and operation. The course will also share some practical elements related to the operation of affordable and quality telecommunications services in a given location, as well as related regulatory issues.

Specific Objectives

• Understand the function and services of a community network.
• Learn about community network planning and deployment.
• Evaluate sustainable organizational structures and partners.
• Evaluate financial and operational sustainability.

Building Wireless Community Networks Course (23 June–25 July 2025)

It consists of training community members in wireless technology and Wi-Fi equipment, which use the unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz spectrum bands to create community-owned and operated wireless networks, enabling them not only to run and manage these networks but also to transfer knowledge.

Specific Objectives

• Acquire knowledge on creating wireless community networks.
• Study case references for network design.
• Develop an implementation plan.
• Enable knowledge transfer within communities.

Participant Profile

The following applicants are welcome:

• OAS member state citizens/permanent residents
• CITEL associate members
• Telecommunication/ICT ministries and regulatory bodies in OAS states
• Regional organizations
• Telecommunication/ICT professionals & technicians
• Civil society and other interested communities

Application and Selection Process

Eligibility

• A citizen or permanent resident of any OAS member state.
• Not a current recipient of a CITEL scholarship within the past 6 months.

Application Details

• Application Deadline: 25 April 2025
• Selection Criteria: First come, first serve basis
• Result Announcement: 28 April 2025 at 12:00 EST (on CITEL and Internet Society websites)
• Scholarship Confirmation: selected participants must sign and return a Scholarship Acceptance Form before the course starts. If confirmation is not received, the scholarship will be reallocated.
• Post-Course Requirement: complete a course satisfaction questionnaire at the end of the program.

For further information about this course, please contact Roberto Zambrana (zambrana@isocfoundation.org) and María Celeste Fuenmayor (mfuenmayor@oas.org).