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Good practice

Joven Club de Computación y Electrónica (JCCE) — Cuba's National Digital-Literacy Network

Cuba · Havana · See the Cuba profile

Cuba's nationwide network of 600+ free computer-training centres, founded in 1987, has enrolled 4.55M+ people in digital-literacy courses, including remote mountain communities — inside one of the world's most restricted and expensive internet environments.

600+
Training centres nationwide
4.55M+
Cumulative graduates (1987-2017 (30th anniversary))
48,651 people (incl. 1,120 children, 419 elderly, 88 people with disabilities)
Santiago de Cuba one-week push participants
~5,000
Specialised staff
39,000+
EcuRed registered users
30 instructors across 16 provinces, 19 apps built
Juventud APK 2019 workshop (2019)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Joven Club de Computación y Electrónica (JCCE)
Period
1987–ongoing
Keywords
digital literacy, ICT skills training, community computer centres, youth informatics

Context

Joven Club de Computación y Electrónica (JCCE) is Cuba's nationwide network of free computer-training centres, founded on 8 September 1987 in Havana. It grew from 32 initial centres to more than 600 installations nationwide — roughly one club per 18,000-19,000 residents, including 138 clubs outside municipal capitals and 39 in mountainous regions — staffed by roughly 5,000 specialised workers, 47% of them university graduates.

Activities

The network runs 'Infoalfabetización' (info-literacy) courses in computing, electronics, networking and programming. Since 2019, JCCE has partnered with UNESCO's regional office and its Youth Mobile initiative on 'Juventud APK', training youth to build mobile apps addressing local development problems.

Results

By its 30th anniversary in 2017, JCCE reported more than 4.55 million cumulative graduates since 1987. A one-week 'Infoalfabetización' push in Santiago de Cuba alone trained 48,651 people, including 1,120 children, 419 elderly residents and 88 people with disabilities. An initial 2019 Juventud APK workshop trained 30 instructors across 16 provinces, who went on to build 19 apps. Associated platforms include EcuRed, a Cuban online encyclopedia with 39,000+ registered users.

Conclusions

Digital-literacy training through JCCE is not the same as open internet access: Cuba's internet remains state-controlled and among the most expensive relative to income in the world, and JCCE's own Reflejos blogging platform has had government-critical content removed.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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