A critical question for organisational change in The Gambia is that of the skills/career profiles required to support change. Our recent studies indicate the key staff needed to harness the power of IT for organisations in Africa are 'hybrids'. 'Hybrid professionals' are those who understand IT and information systems and management/organisational issues. A new one-year MSc in 'Management and Information Systems' from IDPM, University of Manchester provides training in these areas to create the hybrid professionals who will be essential to future organisational growth. We train a number of Gambian study fellows every year on this and other management programmes. Further details can be obtained from the IDPM Web site: http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/masters.htm Details of shorter IT-/hybrid-related training programmes (6 weeks, 12 weeks and Diploma with distance learning components) can be obtained from: http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/topicvue.htm#is We would be interested to hear Gambian experiences of hybrids and IT career paths more generally. Richard Heeks --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Richard Heeks Senior Lecturer, Information Systems & Development Institute for Development Policy & Management University of Manchester Precinct Centre Manchester M13 9GH U.K. Phone: +44-161-275-2870 Fax: +44-161-273-8829 Email: [log in to unmask] IDPM Web: http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm --------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~