OLPCorps CUNYBaruch Ghana

Proposal of Oliver Takacs and Derek Richardson for OLPC Ghana

Mention technical support NGO support Focus on children and learning Max 750 words Who, what, when, where How you deal with children and with their schedule Rural areas! How will this impact the 6-12 years old children (they are agents of change) Financial needs / budget (separate file) How will you provide support after you leave (financial, etc) – volunteer networks

Our team is made up of two members. The small size of the team makes us more effective and economical. It allows us to be more mobile and efficient in carrying out the project in Ghana. Who we are The first team member is Oliver Takacs, a 28 year old BBA student from New York City’s Baruch College (www.baruch.cuny.edu). Oliver studies Computer Information Systems and minors in International Economics and Mathematics. He has a Sport Management Diploma from Hungary where he also attended Budapest University of Technology and Economics (www.bme.hu). He pursued Electrical Engineering studies before he transferred to New York City. Oliver got his Associate Degree from Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in Computer Science before he went on to continue his studies at Baruch College. He graduated with honors and earned Academic Excellence in Computer Science Award upon graduating from BMCC. Oliver has lived in different countries and cultures. He is experienced, mature, and open minded fellow with a good understanding of the world and its concurrent issues. He has good technical skills, knows computer hardware and software very well. Oliver has experience in networks, programming, databases, has worked in different OS environments. Also has pedagogical skill that he gained as a camp counselor working with 8-14 year old children and tutoring fellow students in his college.

Derek Richardson is…

There is more information on us on our website we set up for the project: www.walkingdowntheroad.com

What, where, when: Our team is made up of two students from New York City. We are dedicated individuals who agree with the vision statement of One Laptop per Child and willing to spend the summer in an underdeveloped African country to help to create educational opportunities for poor children. We understand that providing these children with laptops promotes self empowered learning and possibly put these young citizens on a track which does not only change their and their families life, but also makes them able to contribute more to their country’s development in the future. Kids will be given the opportunity to learn, create, and connect. The whole world can open up for them as with the laptop, they also get opportunity to prosper and unlock their potentials.

The country of our choice is Ghana. Ghana is the first Sub-Saharan country that achieved independence in 1957. It is a stable democracy which makes the country a perfect destination for OLPC; it is a country where the positive effects of the distributed laptops will be efficiently multiplied. Ghana already has a pilot program running, our deployment could extend and further develop OLPC’s presence in the country. There is also a strong governmental support for the program and for education in general in the country. The country spends 28 to 40 percent on education of its annual budget. There are also NGOs and foundations already overlooking the project (e.g. The BWL Foundation), all these factors make Ghana an ideal deployment destination for our team.

A very important aspect of the deployment is that during the summer children are off from school. This might make it harder to get them together, but also that provides us and them with a lot more free time. We will work closely with local NGOs and organizations. Our primary partner will be Children’s Rights International Ghana (www.crighana.org). This organization is a very active and effective NGO working with children. The mission of CRI Ghana is to protect children’s inherent rights and provide them with assistance to develop children’s abilities and talents. CRI Ghana’s mission very much resembles OLPC’s vision, it makes them perfect partners working for a common goal. CGI will be able to provide us with an initial safe storage for the laptops. They will also assist in finding accommodation for our team. We are also in search of other NGOs that are able to provide assistance in our project. We have contacted and will contact other volunteer organizations, religious missions, foundations, and different organizations. Our goal is to find the best rural location where we can bring about change. We are planning to use existing local networks that can provide the most support for a successful deployment and able to provide additional support after we leave.