OLPCorps Africa

Welcome to OLPCorps Africa, a new student-based grassroots initiative supporting OLPC.
Can't find what you're looking for below? Try our Frequently Asked Questioned page.

We've posted a notice asking for comments. Please help translate it and pass it on.

About OLPCorps Africa

100 XOs, Hardware, up to $10K stipend, 10-day training in Kigali, Rwanda, and an entire summer in an African country of your choice. Sound too good to be true? Well, it's not. OLPC has a revolutionary vision: an XO for every child. Crazy, right? Not crazy enough, since it's becoming a reality. Country after country, children with XOs are learning more, finding new avenues of expression, and connecting to a global network of like-minded children. But we can't achieve this dream alone, which is why we need your help in turning this idea into a global movement. Through OLPCorps Africa, we'll provide the tools and resources to get you started if you can provide the time, energy, and dedication to change the world. This is a student movement, a learning movement, an education movement...The OLPC Movement.

Eligibility & Requirements

• Undergraduate or graduate students from all fields of study and nationalities are eligible to apply. Students entering university in fall '09 or graduating in spring '09 are also eligible to participate. Applicants must be at least 18 years old by June 1, 2009.
• English proficiency is required for the 2 team members attending the Kigali workshop.
• Minimum number of people in a team is 2.
• At least 2 team members must be present in Kigali, Rwanda June 8th-17th for training with the OLPC Learning Team. Teams will then depart for their specific destination.
• Deployments must occur within one of the African countries. Preference will be given to deployments in rural areas.
• Minimum of 9-10 weeks commitment (the duration of your summer break).
• Each team member must have their immunizations.
• Each team member must hold a valid passport.
• Each team member is responsible for acquiring a visa, if needed.
• 1 member of each team will participate in a workshop at MIT/OLPC in Cambridge this October 10-12 (all expenses covered by OLPC).

How to Write a Project Proposal

Thinking about starting your proposal? Not sure where to start? This section should answer some of your questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions & collaborate - we're better as a team. Keep in mind, up to 100 teams are receiving 100 XOs each. This isn't a competition between teams, but a group effort.

In the end, all teams will be working together for 10 days in Kigali before deploying. Our goal is to form a network of African deployments which support learning for years to come. Before your team applies, consider the following suggestions we've outlined below.

Proposal deadline is by March 27th. Send yours to OLPCorps@laptop.org with the following title: "OLPCorps_YourUniversity_CountryinAfrica_LastName". Proposals will not be considered if they exceed the 750 word limit (hyperlinks are ok), are submitted in a language other than English, do not mention technical and NGO support, or do not focus on children & learning.

A few helpful recommendations and items from the OLPCorps Team which must be covered in designing your proposal:

• Submission due by March 27th.
• Accepted Proposals announced April 10th.

Proposal formatting:

• Proposals must be in English.
• Length of Proposal must not exceed 750 words.
• Hyper-linked text is allowed throughout the proposal.

Proposal contents:

• Answer the basics: who, what, when, where. Most importantly, KEEP IT CONCISE AND DIRECTLY TO THE POINT.
• How will you work with children? Are the children in school from June-August? Are they on summer break? Address how you will deal with children and learning with their schedule.
• Who is the local partner? How will you follow-up? Partner with groups capable of maintaining the deployment after you leave. Is there an academic institution, NGO, community organization, etc. willing to oversee the project after the summer? Do you have family ties in the community? What's going to happen when you leave?
  • Include a letter of support from the local partner (this doesn't count towards your 750 word limit). Make sure you show that together you're capable of handling the receipt of a 230 kg package of laptops and equipment. Where will you store the equipment during the deployment?
• How will this impact 6-12 yr old children? All proposals must be about kids 6-12 years old and their learning. A proposal gets stronger as soon as the group can show that children are the agents of change, not just the objects of teaching.
  • Stick to OLPC's Core Principles: child ownership, low ages, saturation, connection, and free and open source.
• How will you provide financial support after you leave? OLPC is awarding up to 100 teams roughly $35,000 each (total value of XOs, stipend, etc) to create learning environments throughout Africa! How can you show that your team can provide financial support after you leave?
  • Research your university's grant programs, student associations, alumni networks, and other avenues of funding to sustain your deployment.
• Communication - do you share the language of the school or community where you will be working? If not, how will this be overcome?
• Describe your project's financial needs. Provide a brief (no more than 1/2 page) budget of the project. Include travel costs (to Kigali and your deployment community), housing for 9 weeks (can your local partner help here?), and other project-related expenses. Remember that OLPC will only grant up to $10,000 and that you do not need to include XOs, accessories, or Kigali accomodations in your budget. If you have a creative project-based idea that needs funding, let us know.
  • Be realistic with your budget. It will determine how much money you'll receive.
  • But also be economical where possible. If we think a team's budget is wasteful or unrealistic, we will consider that in evaluating the proposal.

Note: Upon acceptance, you will be asked to provide proof as a student. This will be verified by the dean of your department, for instance.

OLPCorps Africa Applicants

Below is a regularly updated list of teams across the globe applying to OLPCorps Africa. Missing a key component to your proposal's design? Need a technical lead? Need a pedagogical lead? Working in an off-grid environment? Here's your chance to partner up with like-minded students to change the world. Power in numbers, right?

Indiana University (IU)

Under the auspices of One Here...One There, a non-for-profit org. driven to mitigate educational disparities in sub-Saharan Africa, the Indiana University OLPC chapter is comprised of mostly liberal-arts students with an interest in alternative learning environments and international development. With technical support through the Kliptown Youth Project (KYP), the IU OLPC chapter distributed 115 XOs (15 thanks to Larry Weber) to 3 separate rural primary schools in Limpopo, South Africa from Aug-Sept '08, in addition to establishing power and internet. The team continues to support South African OLPC deployments in various ways, including its first XO Camp in Johannesburg, networking and support for future deployments, and the like. IU OLPC is applying to the OLPCorps Africa program with the hope of saturating the already participating schools in South Africa. Contact Joe Peoni (jpeoni@indiana.edu) for any questions relating to our program.

IU OHOT is looking for a team member to assist in translation, specifically to/from Sepedi.

Global Minimum (GMin), Harvard, Princeton, Indiana University, etc

GMin- www.gmin.org , is a dynamic international organization based on the principle that we can use minimal resources to reduce some of the world's larger problems to a minimum through well-researched and executed projects. Of course, one can think of it as the "least we can do". We work predominantly in Sierra Leone at the moment- where we have successfully carried out Malaria Eradication projects and recently, distributed about 30 XOs to a small community in Sahn Malen, Sierra Leone. GMin will apply to the OLPCorps Africa program because to us, this is one of the best ways to improve education on a grass root level. For more information, contact info@gmin.org

Cornell OLPC

A team led by Information Science Students from Cornell is planning a trip to deploy laptops in Mauritania. One team member’s brother is currently in the Peace Corps in the town of Tidjikja teaching at a primary school. We have held a preliminary planning meeting and are confident about the team that we are putting together. We have both technical expertise and a direct contact currently on the ground in our deployment area, which will remain for another year after the laptops are given out. This will enable a smooth transition for the laptop program and make sure that the program continues to succeed after the summer project is finished. We will continue to edit our proposal as more information becomes available. ____________________________

PROPOSAL/MISSION/MANIFESTO: Our goal is to turn children into agents of change by empowering them with new media tools—a computer—to be citizen journalists. Using word tools and multimedia apps, we hope to get FLIP—a small, handheld camera the size of a phone—to sponsor our mission and donate 100 flips to our community so we can incorporate word, audio, and video to create a story of each child’s life that will ultimately be broadcast to other XO laptop-participating countries and the USA, promoting a global network of educated youth. An integral part of the child’s project—uploaded on a sharing site that is blog-enabled—will be to document the effect of AIDS on children and their families, with a focus on creating AIDS awareness within the community. olesia_p@hotmail.com UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON

Individuals

• Max Stoller

  I am a Social Computing Informatics student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I have the technical know-how of a computer science student, but with an understanding of the social implications of technology. I am well versed in computer technology and can help with any technical tasks. I am a strong supporter of the OLPC endeavor and would sincerely love to do my part to bridge the gap. Shoot me an email at mstoller@umich.edu.

• Daniel Drake

  I studied Computer Science at the University of Manchester, UK, and will be returning for postgraduate studies in business/management. I was a technical intern at OLPC HQ in summer 2008, immediately followed by helping on the Ethiopian deployment for 5 weeks. Now, I am volunteering at the Paraguayan deployment until mid-April. I know the XO from a technical standpoint very well, having contributed to many OS components and activities, and having been developing open source projects for several years. I also am studying the various literature on the learning side. I am looking for a team to get involved with - I can handle a lot of the OLPC-specific aspects of the deployment for you, but I would be looking for a team that has figured out the local details of which country/school and the associated logistics as this is not my area. dsd@laptop.org

• Bryant Lee

  I am potentially interested in doing this. I am a 3rd year Ph.D. student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. I already have a Master's degree in CS from the same university. I would love to get involved in spreading technology and creating social impact, but I don't have a team or local partners as of yet. Let me know. Personal homepage with my email address: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bryantl/

• Prabhas Pokharel

  I am very interested in doing this as well. I am a graduating senior in Computer Science at Harvard University, and am planning on working with technologies in the developing world in the future. I have an XO at home, and have played with them, and I know some of the specifics, but I'm planning on having my enthusiasm and technical experience push me forward. I'm really interested in the logistics and nature of getting to people with technology, and not just the technology, although I'm not sure I know a lot about this already. Contact welcomed. http://prabhasp.com. pokharel AT fas harvard edu

• Martin Mohr Olsen

  I am 27 and a student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, doing a joint honors in International Relations and Sociology. I am a 1st year undergrad, but am currently working on research for my Masters thesis which will involve the OLPC. I am not a programmer and I do lack knowledge of Sugar, but I am still very computer literate. I am interested in the teaching/learning aspects of the OLPC (and computers in general), and intend to base my thesis on how best to utilize open-source software and open hardware in the creation of a curriculum. I would be very interested in the logistics, fundraising and preperations for this trip. If possible, I would like to bring a second member starting her bachelors in Nutrition and Public Health this summer. My blog is at: http://www.mohrolsen.com and my mail is mohrolsen@gmail.com. Give me a ring!

• Samantha (Sam) Burton

  I am a 23 year old Canadian, currently in the first year of a Masters in Mass Communication at Carleton University. I have been following the OLPC project closely for several years, and intend to utilize it as the primary case study for my thesis, which is a key reason for my interest in getting involved in OLPCorps Africa. I would bring to a team extensive practical experience working on the ground in the developing world; I have participated in internships in Nepal and Tanzania, both placements involving liaising between local and national NGOs, implementing long-term sustainable plans and working with youth. I am particularly interested in being a member of a team interested in working in a Swahili-speaking nation (such as Tanzania or Kenya) as I have a conversational knowledge of the language and experience with cultural customs. I would bring to a team a great deal of experience training and teaching youth, coordinating volunteers, drafting and implementing strategic plans, organizing and promoting events, writing proposals and managing international communications. I would be a great fit with a group/individual possessing the technical know-how, and seeking someone with developing world field experience to fill the complementary communications/coordination/pedagogical role--while having fun and learning from each other in the process!! If you're interested in potentially working with me, or looking for more information, drop me a line at samantha.v.burton@gmail.com.

• Eric Anderson

  I am a 21-year-old 3rd year student studying English, Informatics, and Global Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, though I am at Bristol University, UK until this summer. While I've never gotten my hands on an XO, I've published writing about 'em, and have been seeking an opportunity to practice what I've preached. This looks like it! I have worked with children on sustainable green construction in Guatemala, and have written a bit to assist with Long Way Home's advertising and fundraising. Off the top of my head, I am interested in using the XO to empower children through organized sports, fluency in New Media, AIDS education, and green initiatives, but I'm up for anything. I am currently applying for funding through my Honors college, so all I need is a team! I'm buddied up with one other, a Master's student in D.C., and we're looking to join together if possible. My travel writing and New Media blog is http://ericsblog6.blogspot.com/ . I know time's ticking, so shoot me a message at eranderson6@gmail.com.

NGOs

If you are an NGO based in Africa interested in working with a student group to carry out such a project, or if you are working on your own initiatives with educational programs that are, please list yourself and your project here : your name, your project name, where you are based / where you are working, and how to get in touch with you.

• ...

Other Ways to Participate

We're looking to reach university students across the world to participate in the OLPCorps Grant Program - this is a global learning movement. If you can translate a short one page letter from English into any other relevant language, e-mail OLPCorps@laptop.org to help out. You can also edit these wiki pages, too.

How to Use This Page

This is a wiki page which allows you to edit or add information. We do this because we want to hear from you! If you have a comment, feel free to leave it on the discussion page. But if you want to add your group to our growing university list or share your story go ahead and add it in! Just hit edit on the tab menu above. To learn how to edit, click on the side bar tab: Help Using the Wiki.