OLPC Oceania/Community participation guidelines

Community Participation Guidelines for deploying the XO laptop in communities

Developed at OLPC Asia Learning Workshop, Bangkok, August 2008.

adapted for the Pacific context by OLPC and SPC

• The XO laptop should be deployed through a process of community consultation; deployment should only proceed with assent of the community, taking account of their needs and concerns; and should be fully integrated into existing systems andtools.
• Without compromising child ownership or education, access to the XO Laptop should be available not just for the child, but the family and the community.
• Communities should develop their own principles and guidance for coordinating communal use of the XO.
• Where appropriate, children should be included and encouraged to activelyparticipate in using the technology for whole-of-community actions and projects.
• The technology should be available to contribute to community efforts and solve community problems and not be leveraged for private personal profit or commercialgain.
• Knowledge and data generated with the laptop is in the public domain, and needs tobe freely available and shared.
• Without discouraging community-level market activity which supports sustainability – such as microfinance, technical services, spare parts repairs and maintenance – communities should put in place disincentives to the emergence of a secondarycommercial market for the XO.
• Communities should share local knowledge, best practices and lessons learned with like communities and within their sub-regional, national and regional contexts.
• Deployment should, wherever possible, proceed in alignment and harmony with existing regional and national efforts on education for sustainable development, andshould be designed to strengthen and enhance those efforts.
• An "end of life" program should be put in place to recover derelict laptops to avoid environmental damage and hazard.
• An Internet Safety program should be established wherever the XO is deployed.