World Links Program is an independent organization initiated by the World Bank. Its principal objective is to provide development country schools with sustainable solutions for mobilizing the necessary technologies, skills, and educational resources to prepare students and teachers to enter the Information Age. Over the past four years, WorLD has worked with 25 countries to bring underprivileged schools into a global school network, linking students and teachers around the world for collaborative learning. The program provides a combination of training services (for teachers, administrators, and policy makers), educational content, technical assistance for connectivity, and monitoring and evaluation support to more than 140 schools in 10 African countries – Botswana, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The goals of the program are to improve education opportunities for African students, develop new economy skills such as information reasoning skills, teamwork and collaborations kills, communication skills, and technology skills, and build cultural understanding around the world. WorLD is currently experimenting with costs and feasibility of wireless Internet connections for rural schools which will allow for access to both students and the community at large. Evaluation data reveal that participating WorLD schools are integrating ICT into the classroom environment, resulting in noticeable changes in students' practices and teachers' pedagogical strategies. The study also concluded that a major strength of the WorLD program has been the promotion of equitable gender access to and use of computers in participating schools.
