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Computer Aid to treble PC delivery to Rwanda
Target of 3,000 for the next year

By Ron Coates

Published: Thursday 13 May 2004

Computer Aid International aims to put 3,000 PCs into Rwandan schools and community projects in the next 12 months - treble the number for the last year.

The charity is putting its muscle behind the country's efforts to move directly to a knowledge economy, bypassing the industrialisation stage of development.

Tony Roberts, Computer Aid chief executive, said: "Rwanda has changed and wants to change more. It is the only African nation with an ICT policy. That is because the new, young government spent years in exile in neighbouring countries and came back English speakers and computer knowledgeable."

Over the last 12 months Computer Aid has put 1,000 computers into Rwanda, around 60 per cent of them to schools and the rest to community and health projects. The country has a low level of electrification but is installing solar power systems to power the PCs.

Roberts said: "I have just been to the first national ICT convention. Afterwards we visited schools, colleges, universities and the community projects and were amazed at the level of knowledge and enthusiasm for ICTs.

"And in government, the use of ICT goes right through every department and every part of social and economic development - it's not just dumped on the department of communications, for instance."

Rwanda is largely a subsistence economy, with small exports of tea and coffee. Much of its income comes from international aid projects.

Where you come in is by donating to the organisation old Pentium II and III computers that you may have been planning to send to landfills. Do your bit for the environment and for the Rwandans, who will appreciate it.

The Rwandan government is so keen on the project that it has abolished taxes on the imports of PCs and other ICT equipment - no government can do more, especially when it is broke.

In London, Computer Aid has the world's largest PC refurbishing workshop. If you're worried about data protection problems, the workshop scrubs the disks to the exacting MoD standards.

The charity has shipped over 30,000 PCs to 87 developing countries and is currently shipping at a rate of 1,000 a month.