Computer Aid Works with Local Government to Help Reduce Poverty | 01/08/2012
Computer Aid International receives donations of surplus or redundant ICT equipment from a wide range of different organisations. Computer donors include schools, universities and charities as well as commercial companies such as Sainsbury’s and Vodafone. Local authorities have also been keen to donate their old computers to the charity, which are then supplied to not-for-profit organisations in the developing world.
Long term partnerships have been struck with several local councils including Enfield Council, Buckinghamshire County Council and the London Borough of Brent, who have donated over 3,000 PCs to date. Their equipment has been used by communities all over the world, with some of the main beneficiaries including Computers For Schools Kenya (CFSK), Ethiopian Knowledge and Technology Transfer Society (EKTTS), SchoolNet Zambia and Chilenter in Chile.
From the moment donated equipment is collected, Computer Aid accepts full liability and the computers are all asset tagged with a barcode, to ensure traceability . This allows us to monitor individual PCs from point of origin, through their data wiping and refurbishment stages, and finally where in the world the equipment has been sent to. This allows Computer Aid to be able to provide feedback and case studies to our donors about which projects in the developing world have benefited from their ICT equipment.
Computer Aid uses a stringent data wiping protocol as many of our donors may have sensitive data residing on the hard drives of their PCs. Computer Aid uses Kroll OnTrack Eraser data wiping software, which is approved by both the US Department of Defence and the UK Communications - Electronics Security Group (CESG), which overwrites all data on the hard drive with zero values.
Computer Aid provides an easy and safe option to organisations for disposing of their hardware. We provide peace of mind to our donors that their data is secure, and that their equipment will be either reused or recycled in an environmentally friendly way. This ensures full WEEE compliance to our donors and 0% of their equipment will end up in landfill.
Computer Aid’s goal is to reduce poverty by providing communities in developing countries with practical ICT solutions, and you can help us! It’s not just PC base units that Computer Aid needs: we can reuse laptops, monitors (TFTs and CRTs), as well us other ICT paraphernalia such as laptop power adaptors, power cables, keyboards and mice.
The Department for International Development (DFID) have been a long standing partner with Computer Aid, and provided this testimonial about our services:
"DFID is very happy to support Computer Aid: an organisation with goals which are closely aligned with our own. We pass on our surplus equipment safe in the knowledge that it will have a second life helping to reduce poverty. But there is an added bonus in that these donations help us to meet our environmental obligations as we know their disposal will be carefully controlled."
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Students using PCs as part of the SchoolNet Zambia programme