By Kwesi Isles
The government’s US$30M One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative is in its final planning stage and distribution is likely be linked to ongoing community development projects.
Government has already contracted US national Jud Lohmeyer to be manager of the OLPF project. Stabroek News has also learnt that the initiative is intended to spur economic development among the poor although it remains unclear how this will be achieved.
At the official launch of the Suriname/Guyana-Submarine Cable System on July 29, President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that the money would be pledged over the next three years to purchase laptops for at least 90,000 poor families. He recently said he was “working aggressively at it” and that he hoped to unfold the project “within the next three months.”
According to information from a source familiar with the initiative, a final implementation summary is being prepared before the details are made public. Lohmeyer, a former Peace Corps volunteer, was unwilling to comment on the project.
A project plan is being prepared by the Project Management Office, in the Office of Climate Change, to support and foster community and economic development within the framework of the government’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). A draft of the project plan—available online at http://bit.ly/OLPFv2—suggests that the distribution of the laptops will be managed through current aid/volunteer organizations and government ministries working on development projects in communities and that they will not be given directly to families. It also suggests that the initiative will be targeting teenagers, since they are usually the early adopters of technology. “Family members, especially teen males, participating in community groups focusing on economic development, capacity building and education, collaborating with Project Partners is the primary target of OLPF laptop distribution. This primary OLPF participant is expected to bring the computer experience and learning to their family,” the document says.
It adds that every laptop provided will be internet ready for the first year and that families will be required to repay the investment through community service. “Each OLPF community project will include community projects that will benefit the entire community as repayment for the laptop,” it states.
“Every OLPF project will have two trained Support Technicians selected from participating families. OLPF Support Techs will be commercially trained and certified to support OLPF hardware, software and Internet. Training will include the building of a Guyana OLPF support community on the Internet for Support Techs interaction and collaboration across Guyana,” it added.
According to the draft, every effort will be made to use renewable energy to power the laptops and systems in keeping with the LCDS. “A single large solar array can be situated in the center of a community to provide power and create cover from sun and rain. This outdoor facility will provide a new modern technology park community center. Community members will be able to use this center for communication and business.
The document further specifies that the equipment to be used would be “low cost full feature netbooks” which are smaller than the traditional laptops.
The draft, which was created in April, proposes the utilization of pilot projects taking into consideration the geographic, social, cultural and economic diversity of the country to inform the way forward. “This will be especially critical in isolated and remote communities where technology adoption may be resisted and needs to be linked directly to community development and increased opportunities. Deployments near urban centres will require less customization but will face other unique challenges that careful monitoring and study can identify and mitigate. A continuous feedback loop of small projects of 30 laptops and families ensures all stakeholders can learn from the experience of other projects.”
It also calls for the pilot communities to have a record of success in working with outside aid organizations on community projects. “Focusing on the most marginalized populations, rural, Afro and Amerindian communities, yet seeking the most capable ones will enable OLPF to gain critical experience and best practices to approach other communities,” the document says.
The draft also calls for the establishment of an Innovation Board, which would include representatives of entities such as Global Technology, Digicel, GT&T, the Ministries of Education and Culture, Youth and Sport, DevNet and the University of Guyana. The Board, it explains, will review, provide input and evaluate project plan innovations that fall outside the mission and principles of OLPF.
Meanwhile, there is also a proposal for a national project to be named the Dr. Desrey Fox Amerindian Heritage Memorial in honour of the late minister. According to the draft, much of Amerindian heritage and culture is being lost as the memories of older members of the communities fade. “As new technology is introduced the young will become less interested in learning and sharing their ancestor’s oral history. This is not only a tragedy for each family, community and tribe but a huge loss for Guyana. The computer could be a tool to help capture this heritage in words, pictures, videos, audio and art.” It adds that Amerindian children could be enlisted to capture their family and community traditions on their computers which could then be gathered on a web site for everyone’s access.
The announcement of the project has raised concerns about its viability, including questions about technical support and a reliable power supply.
When asked recently about the doubts surrounding the proposal, Jagdeo said it was merely “one or two people” voicing negativity. “Nothing is good for them. Ninety thousand poor families owning a computer is not important for them because a lot of these people are from the middle class, upper class. They can afford their computers; those people’s kids don’t matter to them. That’s not my philosophy. I have a different philosophy,” he stated.
Writing on his blog—churchroadman.blogspot.com—Information Technology (IT) professional and rights activist Vidyaratha Kissoon had stated that he was concerned that there seemed to have been no effort to find out what assistance the poor would prefer. “The government wants to spend about G$66,000 per family on giving access to ICT. What if the families decide that they could use this money to fix a roof, invest in some other income earning activity, [or] buy a Blackberry?” he wrote. He noted that global initiatives such as the One Laptop Per Child were based on the philosophy that “education is important to come out of poverty, and that IT could enhance, not replace, access to high quality education.”
He questioned the vision for education in Guyana and asked whether it is still considered important enough for development here. “Which is better – 30 Million US on laptops, or on paying more teachers better salaries, improving training and having them more accessible to poor families who could also get the books, the clothes and food to attend school?”
Kissoon added that there were children in Guyana today who could not learn because they were hungry and he asked how IT people, the president and others could ensure that those families eat so they enjoy the benefits of the laptop and other poverty reduction strategies.
“This IT man believes that no child should go hungry in Guyana and that all children should have access to a high quality education with teachers who will help to remove illiteracy and to encourage learning. The children and their families should also have access to services – health, housing, work, security, good governance- and ICTs could enable the delivery of these services and IT people should be kept happy and in business by supporting the infrastructure for these services,” he stated.
