Almost 99 per cent of children in Africa leave school without having touched or seen a computer in the classroom.
At the same time, we are dumping two million working Pentium PCs in landfill sites in the UK every year, and environmental directives mean we are paying for this wasteful privilege.
The logic of the charity Computer Aid International could not be clearer: send unwanted technology to the places it's most needed.
Formed in 1998, the charity's mission has been an unqualified success. Computer Aid International has already shipped more than 37,000 PCs to almost 100 developing countries.
And Computing's readers, via our Computer Aid 2004 campaign, are now playing a big part. Working alongside the charity, we're asking the UK's technology leaders to donate old PCs so they can have a second life in the developing world.
Hundreds of private and public sector IT managers have already signed up for the campaign and pledged unwanted PCs.
"Gaining access to decision-makers can be very difficult. The campaign has been very beneficial because it has advertised our work," explained Tony Roberts, chief executive and founder of Computer Aid International.
Rather than having to cold call UK businesses, Computer Aid International now has a ready pool of technology leaders keen to talk about donations.
"Donating is not a hard sell when we're able to communicate with the right people. It makes sense for companies to be socially responsible and know that their computers are being used efficiently," said Roberts.
The charity is helping UK IT directors cope with the potential costs and burden of the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive, a set of rules that will force suppliers of electrical products to recycle old appliances.
And on a daily basis, vans filled with donated PCs arrive at the charity's headquarters on Holloway Road in north London.
Computer Aid International provides a free reconditioning service to help companies dispose of unwanted kit effectively. Donated computers are tested, refurbished, fully upgraded and shipped to developing countries.
Computer Aid International's PC testing room is staffed by volunteer technicians, primarily from nearby colleges of further and higher education.
"This system allows volunteers to get valuable hardware experience on a range of models," explained Roberts.
Computer Aid International also undertakes multiple-sector over-writing on every hard disk. The charity recently signed a deal with data erasure specialist Blancco, allowing it to guarantee donors GCHQ-approved data removal from any disk.
The best Pentium 2 and 3 processor PCs are tested at Holloway Road and more than 2,000 boxes are shipped to the developing world each month. In each box, the charity includes a base system, monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Even with Computer Aid International's well-drilled organisation, shipping large numbers of computers requires massive amounts of manpower and space.
The charity is in the process of establishing an outsourcing agreement with four regional partners in Halifax, Swansea, Manchester and Chelmsford.
These organisations will process computers using exactly the same techniques as Computer Aid International's main centre, an agreement which will also allow the charity to process more PCs each month. "It's really exciting ð things are moving quickly," said Roberts.
Computer Aid International is looking set to increase its shipments by 100 per cent again this year. The organisation is also doing more work directly with governments.
"In Africa now, there isn't any question of whether computers should be used. It's about how many," said Roberts.
In the past month alone, delegations from Mozambique and Nigeria have visited the charity. And last week, non-government organisation (NGO) Computers for Schools Kenya came to London to see how more PCs could be sent to education facilities in Africa.
Computer Aid International has already sent almost 1,000 computers to the organisation for distribution across schools in Kenya.
The charity is also working closely with Arid Lands Information Network, a non-profit and non-political NGO that recognises the importance of technology and promotes the exchange of information in arid areas of East Africa.
And through the assistance of the University of Nairobi, Computer Aid International is helping individual farmers access meteorological information. This allows farmers to predict when there will be five days without rain so they can successfully harvest their crop.
"Our partners have helped us move from a small provider to mainstream government provision," said Roberts.
And success here is helping the charity to move beyond its original aim of collecting and shipping PCs.
"When we started we wanted to just put the relevant material into the boxes. We wanted to be a focused organisation, so that we could be the best at providing a large number of PCs," explained Roberts. "For this reason, we didn't want to get involved in lateral areas, such as training and networking."
However, as Computer Aid International became adept at handling numbers of donations, and involved in mainstream government education, it began to realise that spreading its narrow focus should be considered.
The charity is now looking to become more involved in IT training. Working with partner organisations in the developing world, such as Computers for School Kenya, Computer Aid International has begun to set up technical support in Nairobi.
Two of the charity's support staff have visited the Kenyan capital, and one worker from Africa has come to London. "It's vital for our success that people can provide first-class support in Kenya," says Roberts.
Specific software is already becoming a hit in Africa and Roberts suggested that the move towards Linux is faster and quicker than in the West because organisations are often new to any form of IT.
"In the UK, everyone starts with Microsoft," he said. "But the cost of ownership equation is different in Africa. It's not about changing to a new operating system and retraining your labour. You're not retraining your staff because they're not trained in anything."
In addition, open-source software is usually free, compared with the expensive licences often associated to big-name service providers.
Roberts said that organisations in Nigeria and Namibia have already begun to place important education systems onto an open-source operating platform.
Innovative solutions for intractable problems are helping communities across the developing world to learn IT skills. In short, it's what Computer Aid International is all about, and Roberts doesn't expect the organisation's success to slow any time soon.
He also believes that Computing's readers, and the Computer Aid 2004 campaign, will continue to contribute.
"I expect the campaign to go from strength to strength," said Roberts. "The benefits for us, the donor, the people gaining experience in our workshops and the children in Africa are clear. Everybody is winning."
Your offers and donations have come flooding in
The benefits of the Computer Aid 2004 campaign are very simple: IT directors get to offload unwanted PCs for free, and provide kit for schoolchildren in the developing world.
Technology leaders from across the public and private sectors have already spotted the potential of the campaign, and thousands of PCs have been pledged.
Wellington College in Crowthorne recently donated 80 systems to Computer Aid. Ian Spurrier, head of IT services at the college, explained that it was satisfying to participate in a project that benefits both the environment and other children from around the world.
"Wellington College is committed to charitable activities. It's good to know that PCs which have been used to educate our pupils will now be used to help educate other children less fortunate than ours in schools around the developing world," he said.
Back in April, Scarborough Building Society was the first organisation to sign up to our Computer Aid 2004 Appeal. As part of an infrastructure renewal project, the company upgraded its desktops to Microsoft Office 2003 and Windows XP, and was looking for an efficient way to dispose of its old computers. It is hoping to donate up to 300 machines.
"We are pleased that this technology can be placed with some of the world's poorest countries to aid them in the personal development of their people," said Scarborough Building Society project manager David Blueman.
"Computer Aid International also seems to take all of the logistical and legal hassles away from the disposal of PCs, as well as providing this technological service to the countries which need it most. We are looking forward to working with Computer Aid as the project continues."
Donations continued to flood in during the summer, with City College Brighton and Hove donating 60 PCs after contacting Computing. "Working in education, you become very aware of how technology can change people's lives and prospects," said network infrastructure technician Mark Wilson.
Computing would like to hear from more IT directors keen to donate to the appeal. Email: computeraid@computing.co.uk.
What is the WEEE Directive?
Donating to our Computer Aid 2004 appeal will help IT directors deal with the burden of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.
WEEE is expected to be fully implemented in summer 2005, and will oblige vendors and manufacturers to take back obsolete equipment they have sold.
Many users also have stockpiles of obsolete PCs, printers and monitors that will be affected. Companies will be responsible for the disposal of waste that vendors will not take back.
Old kit can no longer be dumped in a skip, and organisations will have to find new ways of dealing with unwanted hardware.
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