The Development Book Corner

This is pretty self-explanatory. All part of my endeavours to make the Africa section a bit more interesting by the day

If you’ve any comments please post below

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New Africa Stuff on the Website

A bunch of new stuff has just gone up under the Africa section. Firstly all of the Mainstreaming material that’s been developed is under Our Work in Africa/Development in Africa. There’s also a really good new Jeffrey Sachs video up where he talks about the importance of ICTs

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Camara is on RTE Nationwide programme

This RTE Nationwide footage is a must see.  From featuring the Camara workshop in Dublin right through to seeing the computers being used on desks in Uganda and all that goes on in between. Check it out

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Camara commended in Kenyan press

Choking Under E-Waste

July 13th, 2010   Teddy Odindo

Sales of electronic products in Kenya and other African countries have risen sharply over the last decade. These days, I often find it cheaper and more convenient to buy a new PC or mobile phone than to upgrade an old one. Additionally, the laying of fiber optic cable in Kenya has drastically reduced the cost of communication for majority of people to afford. Today it’s trendy to have the latest electronic gadget but with the new technology most of these gadgets, even in the developing world becoming obsolete in less than 6 years. What then, will happen to those old computers, television sets, refrigerators,  printers, I-pods, digital cameras, electronic toys, and  mobile phones once they’ve been abandoned (often in our houses) for newer models?

The outcome of this high-tech revolution has been pure poison. E-waste products in the developing world are being improperly disposed of at the end of their useful life. It is estimated that an average computer can contain up to 1,000 toxins, including lead, arsenic, selenium, antimony, cobalt, chromium cadmium and mercury that contaminate the environment and act as precursors of cancer, damaged nervous system, brain and kidneys.

How many of us have ever thought of discarding that old TV set or computer that crowds your house  by giving it to that guy who does the garbage collection rounds in your estate? The refuse from discarded electronics products, also known as e-waste, often ends up in back-street alleys of Nairobi being scavenged for reusable parts; “juakali recycling”.  If not, the products would be found at the infamous Dandora dumpsite, the largest refuse dump in Nairobi that receives 2,000 tons of fresh waste day.

Many African countries will be grappling under environmental health problems associated with e-waste ‘juakali recycling’ in the informal sector if new approaches are not taken. Reality requires that we segregate, collect and recycle e-waste material appropriately. If not then the significant risk of exposure to workers and communities will continue to pose environmental, human health and human rights challenges across Africa.

In Kenya and other developing countries in Africa, organizations dedicated to using Information and communication technology to deliver education, use thousands of recycled devices to empower generations. A worthy mention would be Camara, a volunteer based organization that refurbish used computers and set them up as learning centers in schools in Africa and Ireland. In a classic example of turning waste to wealth, Computer for Schools Kenya (CFSK) a Non Governmental Organization, dismantles computers into metals, wires, plastic, aluminum, copper, monitors and electronic boards which are then sold separately. CFSK also converts the monitors into television sets by replacing its boards with those of televisions. So next time you or your organization thinks of disposing those old computers, pagers, refrigerators and mobile phones, think Camara and Computer for Schools Kenya.

Voices of Africa: http://www.voicesofafrica.info/?p=41

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Camara’s new ischools initiative gets mention in Irish Times opinion piece

Giving it up for the enterprise generation

The Irish Times – Friday, July 9, 2010

There are people out there who are getting on with getting on, and taking power back into their capable hands, writes AILISH CONNELLY

ENTERPRISE, ENERGY and enthusiasm are not quite such endangered qualities as we have been led to believe. When the curtain of gloom gets too much, draw it back for a few moments and enjoy the view of the resilient among us; those who have no truck with taunting our floundering governmental administration with “J’accuse”.

Take note and take heart. There are individuals and groups out there who are fizzing with the three Es. They are simply busy getting on with getting on, ignoring the recessionary doom, setting up small businesses, forging new ways of resourcing communities and schools, and taking power back into their own capable hands.

Mary Kelly was membership secretary in her local tennis club and spotted a potential gap in the payments systems for small and medium enterprises. Her lightbulb moment came when she realised it is quite expensive for small businesses and organisations such as clubs and colleges to acquire and run credit and laser facilities. So with 20 years’ IT experience under her belt, she set up FeePay.ie, an online payment facility. She now employs two others, and will be recruiting more staff shortly.

Mary refused to let funding issues stall her business plan. “It was difficult to get any assistance but I persevered and I got accepted on the Synergy Centre Platform programme, which trains and mentors in the whole area of establishing and running a business. I also got Cord funding from Enterprise Ireland. They look for good business ideas and put you through a rigorous programme of interviews before you’ll get a cent.”

The three Es, then, in glorious motion. Maybe Mary could run the country. Why not, or someone like her? A working parent, juggling, finding solutions, refusing to give up. Upscale it and anything is possible. Isn’t it time we had real business brains in situ, running what is essentially a macro-business: our country?

While sitting on your tush in traffic, you may have had the desperate urge (no, not that one) to find out what exactly is causing the five-mile tailback ahead of you. Necessity being the mother of invention, Messrs Phillip Comerford and Brendan Conway had the urge and found a brainy business opportunity into the bargain.

They have set up iTraffic, Ireland’s first real-time traffic service. It is a client company of Enterprise Ireland, currently receiving BES (business expansion scheme) resources. ITraffic has trademarked Twaffic, a new brand that allows users to “know before they go”. The boys themselves are kept off the streets negotiating content deals with major traffic partners worldwide to deliver this innovation.

And in a small triangle near the Garden of Ireland, a trio of schools have been industriously ignoring the downturn. From a brief conversation between parents and teachers, three schools – a Church of Ireland school, Rathmichael NS; a Deis school (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Initiative), Scoil Mhuire; and St Anne’s NS, all in Shankill, Co Dublin – have started their own co-operative movement to develop an information and communications technology project.

They aim to get the best interactive whiteboard facilities, develop better internet access, link all three schools and pupils’ homes, and provide new classroom computers. By pooling leftover department building grants and using the technological skills of the combined parent and teacher body, they feel they can buck the trend of low-ranking Irish schools’ educational attainment in the field of IT usage compared with other OECD countries.

IT hardware has already been sourced via Camara, the volunteer organisation set up to deliver education via technology to disadvantaged communities in Africa and Ireland.

The respective principals of the schools – Caroline Senior, Patricia Slevin and Richie Cotter – are proud and keenly interested, and working intensively together with can-do groups such as Camara to ensure fruition.

Due credit must be given to the Department of Education, which gave surplus money left over after building projects, said Cotter. He argues the IT requirements of any school cannot be catered for by one class teacher – not if we are going to be serious in our attempt to rebrand Ireland as a hub of research and developmentand innovation.

“This could go countrywide. It’s the sort of self-help project that could work on a parish or village level in any part of the country,” he said.

These principals are ready to spread the gospel, as are those behind many new start-ups.

Of course we need to know who caused the economic chaos. But let’s not ignore the real green shoots in the process – the men and women in our communities who have never lost their energy, enterprise and enthusiasm.


John Waters is on leave
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0709/1224274348096.html

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Children see computers for the first time

Greetings on behalf of the Pupils and Staff of St Mary’s Primary School Papiri, Niger State, Nigeria. Last summer I collected 40 Laptops from you at Camara and shipped them to Nigeria. They arrived in December and I was able to install them in the School before Easter of this year.

Since there is no electricity in the area they have been set up to work on either generator or Inverter using Solar Power.

Students at St Mary's Primary School Papiri, Niger State, Nigeria

These are the first computers in any school in an area 1/4 the size of Ireland. Most of the Laptops are in good order and functioning well. However the batteries on 6 of them are worn out and we are currently unable to use them. We are trying to get new batteries for them.

It is hard to describe how wonderful the provision of computers is for these children. None of them had ever seen one before and now those in Primary 4-6 have 3 hours a week on one.

In Conclusion then, I wish to on behalf of all associated with the School, to express our sincere appreciation to you all at Camara for all your hard work and effort in helping the youth of Africa to have access to the tools they need to be able to take their rightful place in the modern world.

God Bless

Fr Dónall Ó Catháin SMA

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Letter to Minister Peter Power

August 17th 2010

Re: Ireland and the MDGs

Dear Minister

In response to your question ‘What has been Ireland’s response to the MDGs?’, please be aware that our country has made a significant contribution to Goal 8:
A global partnership for development – [Target 8f] In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

Since 2005, when Camara Education was founded, Ireland has supplied nearly 20,000 computers to 1,000 schools in Sub Saharan Africa. We have also provided computer training and technical support to these schools and we estimate that over this period 200,000 teachers and students have been made computer literate as a result of this program.

Our model of using technology for education delivery is now well established, and proved itself to be both self sustainable and highly scalable. Over the next five years, up to 2015, we have an ambitious plan to deliver training and some 200,000 computers to 7,800 schools, and expect that over 3 million teachers and children will become computer literate as a result of this Irish technology transfer.

Providing people with these skills will also have a profound effect on many of the other MDGs. The application of new technologies not only enhances formal education but provides opportunities for livelihoods, acts as empowering tools for women and improves the prevention and treatment of medical conditions affecting people in extreme poverty.

I hope this information is of some use to you when you address the UN Summit in New York in September.

Sincerely

Cormac Lynch
Group CEO
Camara Education

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I found this pretty funny

And because it’s got excellent Development credentials I’m ok to post it!

http://aidwatchers.com/2010/08/be-careful-what-you-get-searched-for/

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Camara PC Breakage Rates

I found this really interesting. We were collectively musing in the office as to how the breakage rates of Camara pcs compare with new pcs. Ste found the following which was really interesting

(From Google answers)

Below you find will the results of my research for first year failure
rates of desktop and laptop PCs for different brands of computers.

Notebooks
Acer 20 percent
Gateway 18 percent
Toshiba 16 percent
Lenovo/IBM 15 percent
Dell 14 percent
HP/Compaq 14 percent
Apple 13 percent
Averatec 11 percent
Sony 9 percent

Based on our M&E data from last year we can pretty confidently say that the breakage rate for Camara pcs in their first year is just under 13% (based on 109 pcs in Kenya). Frankly we’re all rather chuffed about this!

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Vodafone Go Green Recycle Day – 22nd July 2010

Camara attended Vodafone’s recent Go Green Recycle Day, held at their Headquarters, Mountainview, Leopardstown. The event promoted ‘reuse and recycle’ amongst Staff with a swap book scheme for Enable Ireland, recycle your phones with the Vodafone support for the Irish Heart Foundation. Vodafone recently supported Camara in using them to recycle printers.

While Camara does not ship refurbished printers to Africa because of the unaffordability of the replacement ink cartridges, Camara does offer a full IT hardware recycling and reuse service to all Irish employers that is also commercially competitive and meets the environmental standards set out in the WEEE directive.  As a result of the recycling of Vodafone Ireland’s printers this generated funds to help ship 50 computers to Africa.

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