"When a UN forum asked 60,000 poor people from 60 countries what they wanted to alleviate poverty, they said access to information and opportunity, not charity."
—Vikas Nath (13)
Responding to Beneficiary Input
Need for qualified technicians
In 2000 CFA asked communities who received our computers what they needed most. Overwhelmingly they replied, "education in computer maintenance and repair." Often the so-called computer technicians they call on for help are unqualified and unscrupulous. Beneficiaries told us they were being charged exorbitant prices to solve bogus problems or execute simple repairs. For example, one school was charged a million shillings ($600US) to "install" a network system that was already there. Another charged $30 to change out a network card from one PC to another.
Teachers in our CFA Computer Repair School found very few high school computer teachers had ever opened a PC or handled any components. Most had no experience in troubleshooting and were mystified by error messages on the screen. Their expertise was purely in teaching computer applications. CFA education gives computer teachers the skills to identify and solve common computer problems, keeping the machines operational and saving the communities a lot of money.
CFA is currently investigating solar energy, responding to beneficiary input on the impact of Uganda’s energy crisis on their ICT programs.
"When new technologies began arriving in Third World agriculture...men took all the positions in the classes... women really got the short end of the stick in every way."
—Richard Holbrooke