CIS and Baltic States Review

ORT renewed its operations in the CIS and Baltic States (the Former Soviet Union) in 1991, more than 50 years after its activities were forced to close there. In 1993, ORT opened one school in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg (the city in which the organisation was founded in 1880). Today, twelve years on, ORT coordinates operations in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan: 53 projects in 32 locations serving more than 27,000 people.

In the sphere of formal education, ORT cooperates with 22 schools, vocational training schools and colleges in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan in which Technology Centres are, or will be, established. In addition to providing technological education, ORT now operates the Heftsiba project in 15 Jewish schools. The Heftsiba project is the programme initiated in 1992 under which Israel’s Ministry of Education has been permitted to provide formal Jewish education in Jewish schools in the former Soviet republics. The Heftsiba project is a partnership between local governments, ORT, the Ministry of Education of Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

ORT KesherNet is a joint project of World ORT and the Jewish women’s programme Project Kesher. ORT KesherNet provides training opportunities for Jewish women through a network of ICT centres. The 15 centres provide unemployed and underemployed women with free access to computer training and significantly increases their employment opportunities in a highly competitive labour market. ORT also provides technical and educational support to the Beth Khana Jewish women’s college in Dnepropetrovsk.

Eastern Europe Review

For further information on ORT's activities in Eastern Europe, notably Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Hungary, please read the full article.

Western Europe Review

For further information on ORT's activities in Western Europe, notably the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, please read the full article.

North America Review

Since January 2007, Women's American ORT and ORT America have merged to form one new fundraising organisation called ORT America. For further information on their more recent activities, please see their website at www.ortamerica.org.

ORT America are the leading fundraising organisation and supporter ORT programmes worldwide.

For information on ORT's activities in North America including Canada, please read the full article.

Latin America Review

For further information on ORT's activities in Latin America, most notably Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela, please read the full article.

Africa Review

ORT South Africa has experienced its second consecutive year of significant growth across its four broad operational fields: vocational training, community development, educator development and the Jewish community.

Educator development focuses on the improvement of teaching and learning in the field of technology. To this end, ORT South Africa, with the ORT-Tech Institute in Cape Town, launched the ORT Sustainable Educator Empowerment and Development (SEED) programme in 2005.

Asia Review

ORT India provides training courses in Jewish education, computer literacy and office software. Its hairdressing and beautician courses have a one hundred percent success rate in enabling successful graduates to find work. In addition, the ORT India bakery provides kosher bread and confectionery for the local community.