Microsoft Corporation (May 2009-April 2013)

Kenan completed one of its most informal education initiatives in 2013 with the end of Microsoft BETTER and Microsoft E-BETTER. The projects, whose name stands for Building Employability through Technology and Entrepreneurship Resources, were part of a nationwide ICT skills training program targeted at disadvantaged, low-skill workers who were disproportionately affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, by providing them with technological skills to improve their prospects for employment. While BETTER focused on devel- oping fundamental ICT skills for the workforce through the use of basic curriculums, E-BETTER enhanced advanced ICT skills of the workforce through competency-based curriculums in order to be more competitive when the ASEAN Economic Community forms in 2015.

Funded by Microsoft and implemented by Kenan and the Thai Ministry of Labor’s Department of Skill Devel- opment (DSD), the projects collectively trained hundreds of trainers from the DSD. These trainers then taught workers at DSD centers across Thailand’s 77 provinces, training more than 50,760 people directly and more than 432,155 through project outreach. In addition to providing trainings, Kenan trained DSD staff how to market the courses and build public-private partnerships to support the curriculum.