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FAIR provides ICT equipment for education in Malawi: We receive equipment from Danish companies and organizations. We safely wipe their data and ensure that the equipment has the quality to be transferred for a new year-long life at Malawian secondary schools. In this way, a single computer or laptop can reach hundreds of youths that would likely otherwise lack access to information technology in their education.
The equipment is shipped in 20 foot shipping containers, transporting nearly 400 workstations (laptops and desktop computers) - also: network equipment, screens, projectors, power extensions, keyboards, mice and more.
While you may find the following wall of text a bit overwhelming, please know that we need:
We want to pack many more shipping containers, we are happy to send 1, 2 or 3 every year! We have the capacity, and we need more companies to back us! You can read more about how on our Danish pages about company partnerships.
Here is our process for this consignment in particular:
Firstly, we had a lot of pick-ups and activity days at our workshop. This happened throughout 2017 and 2018, which was quite under speed for what we hope for. We had been renovating our workshop at this time and starting a new outreach program for companies, not least in terms of addressing some new GDPR opportunities.
We receive equipment from companies in batches, and we wipe data and test that equipment works. Computers are processed through our open source software LCRS. All the properties of the equipment are recorded in our database.
This time around, equipment from the following companies and organizations was involved (in no particular order): Trademark Textiles, Business for Social Responsibility Nordic (BSR), Møbeltransport Danmark, Frokost.dk, FødevareBanken, FOA, Dansk Kommunikation ApS, Thorvald Rein A/S, Byens Netværk, Cbit A/S, Quickimport, Toms Gruppen A/S, Missionpharma A/S, Christensen & Co, cBrain, ATM - Airline & Travel Marketing A/S, LetsGo, Borup Privatskole, Novasol, OperateIT A/S, Stepahead IVS, AAB Silkeborg, Situs, Operation Dagsværk, Unilabs A/S, Morten Olsen, Ruko A/S, Steffca A/S, LightShip Chartering A/S, LB Forsikring A/S, and IC Companys.
In Malawi, partners are maintaining equipment and supporting schools: The partnership with Mzuzu University has transformed into a direct civic society partnership: FAIR is already a civic society (you can become a member!) and the students and lecturers at Mzuzu University’s ICT Department have formed a society: tMinds. This is not to say that a public infrastructure for ICT in Malawian secondary schools isn’t the final goal, but that this mode of collaboration achieves quicker and more sustainable progress in the current phases.
In 2018, we started a new collaboration with Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), which will follow the same model: The capacity and knowledge of the university will drive implementation of ICT in secondary schools in the area. MUST will set up 3 secondary schools from the consignment.
FAIR is both expanding and maintaining. We have a milestone of around 80 secondary schools, and currently we are at 40. On average, we need to replace a computer every 5 years. This way, we commit to supporting schools in the adaptation of ICT and with the confidence that they are not just in some donation scheme. They are in a programme. This includes software and Open Access digital resources such as Wikipedia and Khan Academy. Many more are being added.
If you are interested in joining as a Danish company, a volunteer or a member, please have a look at this website about how you can help!
