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]
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As for getting financial aid from IT firms, I'd think that is very difficult. Firms will probably be either to small to deal much with charity, or too large to want to deal with small projects looking for $1000 in funding. But they might be sympathetic to employee initiatives.
The firm I work for allows employees to donate work time to certain charitable projects or they will help with charity d
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I hear SCO... (Score:1, Funny)
You'd better say what projects you plan to do (Score:2, Insightful)
I imagine (though I don't know) that Microsoft might be willing to fund the former but not the latter; and that RedHat might be willing to fund the latter but not the former.
So before expecting to be given money, you'd better make up your mind what you will do with it.
Usually, corporations will give goods and services; and individuals will
looking in the wrong place? (Score:3, Insightful)
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People who give money to third world projects want to know that it is being efficiently and effectively and they want to know that you're meeting a real need and really helping people.
I know this is nothing like the same scale but I was involved in some volunteer IT work at my children's school and most of the other parents involved were looking for an opportunity to sell IT equipment to the school but after a while
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So I'm saying literally start calling people around. I have a lot of practice raising donations by phone, but it's always a straightforward process.
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I would also second the effort to go through a pre-existing non-profit as that will save you all sorts of headaches.
EWB (Score:2, Informative)
GKP (Score:2, Informative)
Money's a funny thing (Score:2, Insightful)
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Is this the Togo version of Nigerian 419ers?
rd
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No, this is real -- they need over $12,000 to buy the licenses from Microsoft so that they can get their fortune out of Microsoft Money. Once they do that, then they'll split the fortune with you.
See, if we all used open source software, we wouldn't have this problem...unless we have to pay SCO some kind of fee.
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The time consumed by supporting mixed donated equipment is massive. Also, when we asked for "networking equipment" we were given 14.4 modems (Practical Peripherals... ohh those were the days), telecom switches for phone setups, but also some pretty nice 16 and 24 port 10 and 10/100 rack switches.
And the cost of getting the items
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IME, the most cost-effective way to protect your equipment is to install a surge-suppressing switch with good grounding right at the point where the power company connects to the building. Lack of grounding and poor power is a huge problem here in the Pacific, but I've installed a few computer centres using this approach, an
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Also having problems with grounding. We will probably have to overhaul the power system here anyway with the integration of solar power here I won't have any real hardware problems.
I believe
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In response to some of your comments...
I agree with your assessment of used equipment. After doing a lot of research I was turned off by the idea of getting used equipment donations from out of country. I think I've found a nice middle ground between buying brand new equipment (too expensive) and getting used stuff sent here (u
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Anyway, I am here until 2008 (January) most likely, and planning on coming back once a year for 5 years (1-2 months at a time, or as needed).
If I can be any help with any experiences I've had, toss me an e-mail, or call me on skype.
I'm not part of any organization, my Aunt is Ghanaian and my Uncle asked me to come help their school. I used to be a independent It consultant for small companies in Boston, but I was
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I know, I mean "the Peace Corps"? They sound like some shady fly-by-night scam...has anyone even heard of them?
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If you want to read more about my project and why it isn't a 419 check out my blog at www.aaroninafrica.com or the description of the project at http://aaroninafrica.blogspot.com/2006/07/project. html [blogspot.com]. Sadly the full proposal isn't on the site as I don't have access to a hosting site while over here. If you would like me to send you the PDF please give me your contact info or get in touch wit
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I am not in a position to fund your project, but can I send a few dollars for the removal of one or more of this person's fingers?
On a serious note, though, it would be very interesting to see some information on the kind of things that drive people into that kind of activity. I can't honestly
Benetech (Score:2, Informative)
another for the list (Score:1)
Help our own first (Score:2, Insightful)
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Are they "better" poor people?
Do you judge people by their citicenship?
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You have a deep misunderstanding if you think what the Peace Corps does is make care packages.
2: Better return on investment. Your own economy is helped if you can get these local people back on their feet.
Maybe ROI shouldn't be measured in terms of money but in terms of people helped and by how much.
3: What's the point of giving the world handouts at our own expense?
See my response to point one, but maybe it's to help pe
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Besides the obvious fun of it all - traveling to foreign lands, meeting foreign people, eating their amazing food, learning their language,
Interested in your results... (Score:1)
We should give of ourselves (Score:2, Interesting)
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If you are ever in Sokode (about an hour south of Kara) feel free to give me a call! My contact info is on my blog at www.aaroninafrica.com.
A good proposal will generate funding. (Score:1)
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Thanks for the offer!
What kind of project? (Score:4, Insightful)
You do seem to have a start in that you want to use local people and hopefully these people will be trained well enough to continue the project after you leave.
If you put together a thorough project proposal that includes all of the messy details of WHAT the project will do, HOW the information will be used to improve something, HOW it will do it, HOW it will be implemented, HOW it will be sustained, etc. they you may be able to apply for funding from the many NGOs and bilateral aid agencies that do have money and an interest in ----- (insert your project here).
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I wish it worked like that. I honestly do. Experience has taught me otherwise.
The big problem that o
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I do agree with you when you talk about the potential pit-falls of a project like this. You
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It appears that your project will focus on basic computer literacy skills and this will be a good thing for the community. It appears that you have also made a good effort to make the project sustaining with a combination of donations for startup and private/public sector funding.
Best wishes to you an
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
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In this dude's blog (and I didn't see anything in the first few entries that ruled out being a setup for a scam), he says there is one paved road in the country. He says he gets on the internet with one low baud dialup shared by an internet cafe. Says it took 30 minutes to read his first email.
What would they do with a computer?
rd
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You ask a very good and legitimate question. One which I was asked a lot and some very bright minds in the development field used to ask also. Answer is that they would do the very same things with a computer you and I do. They use it for typing, data manipulation (spreadsheets, analysis, bookkeeping, ...), playing games (yes, even people in developing countries like to play games. In fact, it is the game playing that often keeps community computer centers in business)
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You didn't understand, there is no internet access for these alleged gift PC's. In addition, how did "plan and execute projects" become "build/buy PC's for kids".
Also in addition, anyone who thinks you can build a PC cheaper in Africa than the $300 PC's that come out of China is rather oblivious.
Remember, this alleged Peace Corp guy said I don't want hardware or software, I want money.
Really clueless
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OK, so they don't have internet access today and they can't check the weather. Who's to say the PCV's next project won't be to set up a wireless network? Who's to say they won't soon be getting telephone and dial up in his area? There are a lot of amazing things going on in this area. Here's one of my favorite: Jhai [jhai.org]. Granted, you did point out one thing they can not do today with co
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First of all, I did look at his blog, and like I said, I didn't see anything in the first several posts that ruled this out from being another African scam.
Secondly, building PC's from parts cheaper was a few years ago. You can't beat the price of all in one motherboard PC's now. You can't even come close. I mean, remember, you guys are also saying "it's not worth the bother to work with old PC's". It'd be different if you wanted donmated hardware to do your thin
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No, I *gasp* think he's full of crap.
rd
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Real IT Departments don't buy cheap PCs, they buy many of a few different models of computers depending on what the company n
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So when I started out, it wasn't good enough for me to have a TRS-80 with a tape drive (on which I taught myself BASIC and Z-80 programming), but instead had to have an "in country supplier" hand build me an
What kind of projects? (Score:2)
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GeekCorps [geekcorps.org], VSO [vsocanada.org] and CUSO [cuso.org] (if you're Canadian) all have pretty good opportunities for IT volunteers. (VSO Canada accepts applications from permament residents of the US and Canada.)
OK (Score:2)
Why does money go further there? (Score:1)
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Have you considered the OLPC project? (Score:1)
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 h
Re:Why Money, PeaceCorps tasks & donate your b (Score:1)
Keep up the good work! I love your idea of a CS Masters. I'm going to check out your site and read a little more.
Earn the money. (This is going to be offensive...) (Score:2)
Go back to the rich world, get a job and donate all the money you save by living in the Toga-like conditions to the cause.
Thus funded, the skilled locals (frequenters of that "local market" you mention) will be able to do the job themselves. They would happily switch places and take your place in the rich world, but various protectionist and anti-immigration laws keep them in Africa (mostly)...
But if you insist on wasting your time and effort over there, try asking the Gates Foundation... Ha-ha.
Developing World? (Score:1)
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s/skillets/skillsets/g