Under the patronage of HE Ahmed bin Rashid bin Mohamed Al Ma'amari, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development, and the Information Technology Authority (ITA) held a graduation ceremony for the first batch of graduates from the IT Training Project for Social Welfare Beneficiaries, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) and Oman International Bank (OIB).

The Project aims to provide trainees with internationally and locally accredited certificates in information technology (IT). It also aims to prepare trainees to face the conditions of living by acquiring new information skills required in the business market, by encouraging them to initiate small enterprises requiring the use of IT in businesses. Doing so, this targeted community group will strive to achieve self-reliance and gradually transform into productive persons who will contribute to building the nation.

The 225 participants in the program spanned a number of the Sultanate’s regions and governorates; 50 trainees from Muscat Governorate, 25 trainees from Al Batinah Region, 25 trainees from Al Dakhiliya Region, 25 from Al Dhahra,  25 from Musandam Governorate, 25 from Dhofar Governorate, 25 from Al Buraimi Governorate, and 25 from Al Sharqiya Region.

The project was sponsored by OIB (Oman International Bank) which covered all training expenses. The trainees were carefully selected according to certain standards and norms. In addition, the MoSD exerted efforts to select and conduct interviews that helped shed light on the categories in need. This was positively reflected on the events of the program and in all regions. The task of quality control was assigned to the Information Technology Authority (ITA) in order to ensure good training and quality outputs at the conclusion of training. In conclusion, the project was carried out by the Arab Omani Training Institute – a member of Talal Abu Ghazaleh Group.