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Finding the charity that you want to support can be a bit of a bewildering experience.
Here Channel 4 have made the job easy by reviewing 8 technology-promoting charities.
Whether you want to help herders in Tanzania, send books to schoolchildren in Kenya, give new life to an old computer, or build pumps to supply safe water, there is something here for you.
1.Book Aid International
2.Computer Aid International
3.FARM-Africa
4.Harambee Schools Kenya
5.Practical Action
6.Pump Aid
7.Trade Aid
8.WORLDwrite
Book Aid International send books to communities and institutions that need them.
Human potential is all too often hindered by the lack of resources. Whether it's formal or informal, education can help people escape from poverty. But, nearly a billion people worldwide have entered the 21st century unable to read a book. In Africa most people will never have the chance to own a book and in schools one textbook very often has to be shared between six or more pupils.
Book Aid International work with partners in Africa to tackle book shortage and support the development of a reading culture. Providing relevant books and information to those in greatest need helps people to realise their potential and contribute to the development of their communities. To this end, the charity also incorporates support, training and advocacy into their programmes with libraries, schools, hospitals and refugee camps.
If you would like to contribute now, join the Reverse Book Club by downloading their application form here.
Website: www.bookaid.org
Computer Aid International needs your old computer. Donating a computer for re-use is more cost effective than normal refuse recycling and has far greater environmental and social benefits.
Computer Aid fully refurbish, pack and ship donated Pentium computers for re-use in not-for-profit sectors overseas. So far the charity has distributed, in the order of, 50,000 Pentium computers to 4,000 educational organisations and 2,500 communities in 90 different developing countries worldwide.
Such figures have been achievable through donor partnerships with large companies such as British Airways, Warner Brothers and Ford and distribution partnerships overseas with programmes such as SchoolNet Africa, World Links and the British Council.
Whether you are a business looking to offload your old computers or an individual, Computer Aid International can give your old computer(s) a new life, with one proviso, they have to be Pentium II.
To find more you can call Vaneeta Pinheiro on 0207 281 0091, or e-mail on vaneeta@computeraid.org
Go to www.computeraid.org/ donorsintro.htm to donate your computer now.
FARM-Africa offer practical help to poor African farmers and herders to enable them to produce food sustainably. The charity's core aim is to make sure that future generations don't have to depend on handouts of aid.
The 'FARM' of FARM-Africa stands for Food and Agricultural Research Management and aims to link scientific research institutions with small-scale farmers, enabling them to exploit the latest technology. It works chiefly in smallholder agriculture, forest management, herding and land reform.
FARM-Africa runs projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. It also manages funds such as the Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund, promoting the use of new agricultural technologies to farmers and helping them to generate sustainable incomes for the communities.
To find out more about FARM-Africa go to www.farmafrica.org.uk. For the Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund go to www.maendeleo-atf.org
To donate online now go to www.farmfriends.org.uk
Harambee Schools Kenya work with rural communities in the central highlands of Kenya to improve educational standards and opportunities. 'Harambee' means self-help in Swahili; these schools are funded entirely by the community, who are largely subsistence farmers. As a result, few schools have adequate facilities; most are housed in mud buildings and have no more than the occasional textbook.
Funds raised in the UK and elsewhere are used to supply textbooks and to improve school infrastructure by building stone classrooms, water tanks, libraries and other crucial facilities to enable the schools to function effectively.
Their UK staff are all past volunteer teachers in Kenya or have extensive experience of the area. Because they do not have an office or any paid staff, administrative costs are extremely low, and virtually all the money they get goes to supplying schools with badly needed text books.
To find out more about Harambee Schools Kenya, please visit our website.
Please donate online here.
Practical Action help people to use technology in the fight against poverty. It is a UK registered charity that works directly with communities to develop appropriate technologies in food production, agroprocessing, energy, transport, small enterprise development, shelter and disaster mitigation.
Practical Action has a unique approach to development – they don't start with technology, but with people. The tools may be simple or sophisticated – but to provide long-term, appropriate and practical answers, they must be firmly in the hands of local people who need to shape technology and control it for themselves.
Practical Action work directly in four regions of the developing world – Latin America, East Africa, Southern Africa and South Asia, with particular concentration on Peru, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
If you would like more information about Practical Action's projects please contact Carol Reesby on 01926 634506.
To make a telephone donation, you can call Freephone 0800 3891624.
To donate now, go to
www.practicalaction.org/?id=personal_donation
Website: www.practicalaction.org.
Pump Aid is a registered charity that works in the rural communities of Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. In many of these communities water has to be carried from open water sources and wells. The water is often contaminated with bugs that arise from the unhygienic conditions. These can be lethal.
Pump Aid has designed a water pump, known as the 'elephant pump', that uses simple, sustainable technology to bring water from a depth of 30 metres. The pump is fully enclosed so the water can't be contaminated by decomposing matter, dirty hands, ropes, animals or any other hazards.
The elephant pump has far-reaching benefits. It provides safe water to drink, and, since it makes water so much simpler and easier to collect, elephant pumps make it possible to irrigate gardens and grow food crops.
Pump Aid is a small committed team, with 18 native Zimbabweans working on site. They have now installed 1500 elephant pumps, which means safe water for 300,000 people every day of the year.
The material and labour cost of installing an elephant pump is just £200. If you would like more information contact Karen on karenmercer@pumpaid.org or check out the website.
To donate now go to www.pumpaid.org
Trade Aid is a small UK registered charity that helps to alleviate poverty in Tanzania through the creation of sustainable employment. They do so largely by providing improved educational opportunities – from primary education through to vocational training and education in management and financial skills.
Trade Aid have focused their work around the town of Mikindani where, other than a handful of government posts, there are few jobs.
The centrepiece of their work is The Old Boma, a former colonial fort which now operates as a not-for-profit 'Community Project Hotel and Training School', providing employment for more than 40 locals and a luxurious resting post for tourists.
The charity has also opened the Mikindani Schools Resource Centre. The centre acts as a library and holds an impressive store of textbooks, maths equipment, wall charts and other educational tools – all of which can be borrowed by local primary schools. The charity aims to extend the range of items available for loan to include basic science equipment and access to PCs.
Trade Aid is also involved in operating a tree nursery and an educational programme aimed at the prevention of soil erosion. In the coming year they plan to launch an enterprise aimed at the manufacture of bicycle trailers to help local traders to operate more effectively and improve transport infrastructure in the region.
Trade Aid has just two full time employees in the UK, which keeps administration expenses to the minimum and means nearly all donations get to the people of Mikindani.
To find out how to donate, volunteer, stay at the Old Boma Hotel, or get more info on any of the projects, call Bill Walker on 01425 657774 or e-mail him at fundraising@tradeaiduk.org.
Website: www.tradeaiduk.org
WORLDwrite, a UK-based youth education charity, ship quality refurbished PCs to schools and villages in the developing world to help make a small dent in the digital divide. WORLDwrite put global equality at the heart of their mission.
WORLDwrite's next shipment will supply four schools in Ghana. It costs approximately £1000 to ship 12 PCs, including packaging, transport, shipping, port costs, delivery and stabilisers to safeguard equipment from power surges.
At the moment, the charity is looking for funds to ship PCs that have already been donated. They will be able to take further PCs in the autumn, but they can only take working Pentium IIIs and upward.
WORLDwrite has also partnered up with Ghana's first independent film school, the ASA (Academy of Screen Arts) in Accra, to assist aspirant young Ghanaian filmmakers in developing their own voice on Ghana's needs.
To this end, the charity is also asking for working second-hand DV cameras, specifically Sony PD150s and Sony PD170s, along with mini-DV cameras, decks, tripods, film lights, tape stock, wireless and directional microphones, pistol grips, boom handles, trollies, dollies, reflectors and gels. If you have equipment to spare get in touch and help WORLDwrite in their quest for equality.
To find out how to donate equipment, contact them on world.write@btconnect.com or call Ceri Dingle or Viv Regan on 020 8985 5435.
Website: www.worldwrite.org.uk
Home | Barefoot Technology: Engineering A Solution To Poverty | Top 8 poverty-busting technologies | 8 Ways To Help - Top technology-promoting charities
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