Finding IT Firms to Donate to Developing Countries? 82
A Peace Corps Volunteer asks: "I am currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, Africa and we are looking for organizations to help us fund an IT project. Thus far we have only found orgs that like to either do their own projects or send old computers. There is a large group of experienced volunteers here who just need money to plan and execute projects with in country suppliers (it's amazing how much can be done with a couple thousand dollars on the local market). Does the Slashdot community have suggestions for organizations that like to help fund IT related projects in the developing world?"
IT-related volunteer orgs (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.geekcorps.org/ [geekcorps.org]
http://www.kiva.org/ [kiva.org]
EWB (Score:2, Informative)
GKP (Score:2, Informative)
Benetech (Score:2, Informative)
Resources (Score:3, Informative)
But I digress...
The fabric of funding available in each country is different but you need money - not IT because you're going to go buy it. After I solicited donations of used equipment, I often found used equipment to be more trouble than it was worth and with a small amount of moeny I could go buy/build new stuff. So you're on the right track.
Sources: try embassies. I solicited funds from EVERY embassy in Thailand. Surprisingly, Saudi Arabia gave me the most money. I expected a European country to give the most. Also look into Chambers of Commerce. There are a LOT of gov't aid organizations (USAID, for example) and NGOs out there who might fund you. Look into the USAID publication which lists everyone who receives money from them. It is published annually and is a GREAT resource for people who might fund you. Regional politicians are a good source - try the governor of your province. I developed a great relationship with mine and he helped me a LOT in several situations. Also try the Peace Corps Partnership Program. It's often slow but can provide a lot of money.
Just because these people are giving you money, don't look at it as a donation. It's not. They want something in return. What can you give them? Good will. Be absolutely sure to take LOTS of pictures of cute little kids with the computers you buy/build. Do what you can to get these pictures printed in the local/national papers. Again, develop relationships with people in the newspapers and your pics/press releases will get published more often than not. Make up certificates and send to donors, invite them to "dedication" ceremonies (9 times out of 10 they won't come but will be happy to have been invited). Repeat customers are much cheaper and easier to acquire than new customers - once someone has given you money, wait a few months and hit them up again.
Don't forget that you're going to leave in 2 or so years. Training is FAR more important than the actual equipment. Build capacity. Teach people how to build/repair their own macines, teach them how to use the machines. If you don't build capacity you're wasting your two years there. I wasn't trying to but did so out of dumb luck - I taught a few coworkers how to use the machines and a few students how to build/repair them. Unknowingly at the time I launched a few IT careers...
Finally, here's a link to a manual [ericzander.com] I produced way back when but is still being used by Peace Corps Thailand. It is old and somewhat country specific but there's a lot more of my "lessons learned" in there than I write here.
Good luck!
~ZanderMander
Why Money, PeaceCorps tasks & donate your brai (Score:2, Informative)
* Why money and not (just) hardware? Local monies support local IT businesses and help fuel self-sustaining solutions. Donations of hardware without monies to support them (one of the single biggest problems I've seen with donations) are the most common donations, but unfortunately generally lead to hardware lying around useless because there is no power to run them, or no money to pay for technicians to fix them. If you want to help, and want to help by donating hardware, make sure you also donate a budget for maintenance AND power.
* What IT projects are available in the Peace Corps? Every country has a different set of projects, but the general motivation is helping countries build sustainable IT (aka ICT) infrastructures. Here we are primarily focused on teaching IT at the schools and helping the government effectively use the IT they have including lots of database work. Many volunteers here help set up and maintain hardware while they teach basic computing. Other countries have small business development projects that include IT implementation projects.
* What can you do other than donate money or hardware? Donate your time. Donate your brain. Donate the experience you were lucky enough to have a chance to get. Even if you can't spare two years to do something like Peace Corps or Geek Corps, you can give a kid the same chance by spending even just a single semester teaching them what you've experienced. I've just set up a Computer Science Bachelor's degree program at the University of The Gambia. There are maybe a handful of people total in this country with CS Master's degrees. Most of these people are looking for more profitable employment abroad. We desperately need good teachers to come train, even for just a single semester, the future tech minds in this country. The talent and ability and motivation all exist in the students here -- some of these kids are as bright and brighter than anyone I've met in the US, Asia, or Europe. But they don't have the talent teaching them, and that's what keeps them impoverished and disadvantaged and unable to come back to effectively teach their own. If you have a background in computers and a Master's degree or a PhD and want to help, please, please, please consider taking even just a few weeks to teach somewhere it is really needed, whether it be The Gambia, West Africa, or Flint, Michigan.
Please e-mail me direct if you are interested in teaching CS for a semester or two in The Gambia, or if you'd like to know more about Peace Corps' IT efforts in West Africa.