Association "Viesieji interneto prieigos taskai" (eng.- Rural Internet Access Points) (further – RIAP Association) has been operating in Lithuania since 2006. Non-governmental nonprofit organization was founded by professionals who have been working in the field of ICT, adults/youth education for more than 18 years. The goal of the Association is to enable local individuals and institutions to build key elements of modern and vibrant society through promotion of new information and communication technologies (further - ICT), expansion of access to the Internet recourses and improvement of quality of education.
In Lithuania, the Association works across a number of ICT and education related sectors: designing and delivering training to strengthen digital competences of adults and youth; implementing methodologies on creative use of ICT with a synthesis of other subjects (project management, employment, entrepreneurship, STEAM); promoting e-learning and raising awareness of benefits and opportunities created by digital transformation.
For years, the Association is closely engaged and collaborates with formal, vocational and non-formal educational institutions by offering and conducting well-designed programmes for teachers and youth to update digital skills and support their professional and personal development.
Today, the Association engages 100 members, full-time 3 employees and recruits educators and experts across the country for conducting training and providing needed expertise.
In 2016 Association became a member of National Digital Skills and Job Coalition that unites companies and organizations for increase of employment and achieve a more effective use of digital potential. The Association also cooperates with European and international partners. Currently Association is working on several projects most of them funded by European Union’s programmes (Erasmus, Structural Funds). In some of these projects the Association is the project Coordinator.