Repurposing Educational Technology - One Company's Story

Educational technology company teams up with the university to provide 700 student response pad "clickers" to University of Cape Coast in Ghana - eInstruction, a premier global provider of interactive learning solutions, announces the donation of 700 clickers to Cape Coast University in Ghana. eInstruction collaborated with the staff and students of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to collect Interwrite® PRS IR (Personal Response System Infrared) clickers and 100 receivers for the University of Cape Coast in Cape Coast, Ghana.

University of Cape Coast's Dr. Daniel Obuobi served a sabbatical at UMass Amherst in the fall of 2006. During his time there, he was particularly impressed with the pedagogical benefits of the PRS clickers.

"When I first witnessed PRS in action, I saw the huge benefits for both students and professors," says Dr. Daniel Obuobi. "I wanted this technology for my students very badly, but our university's budget was limited. When I found out about the donation, I felt truly fortunate. This technology will benefit our students and instructors for years to come."
**To read the full article click here: http://www.einstruction.com/company/press_release/release030509.html


Really this news article speaks for itself. In an concerted effort to re purpose technology, UMass and eInstruction have gone above and beyond the traditional notion of "Corporate Social Responsibility" to provide technology and learning opportunities to Ghana. We should all take this lesson to heart and find ways to re purpose our old technology - mobile phones, computers, and the like and find ways to enrich the lives of those around us who are perhaps not as fortunate or do not have access to the biggest, brightest, newest technology around.

Empowerment through Micro Lending

-- Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian economist, formerly of Goldman Sachs and educated at Harvard and Oxford, in an interview with Newsweek magazine ahead of the New York launch of her new book, "Dead Aid." Moyo writes that foreign aid (a trillion dollars over the past 60 years) is a waste: it's bad for Africa, she says -- and for Africans – keeping the continent in a supplicant's role when its governments need to become self-sufficient. Moyo believes this dependency relationship is perpetuated by Western governments and glorified by the celebrities who have made Africa their cause du jour. "Taking a picture with a starving African child -- that doesn't help me raise an African child to believe she can be an engineer or a doctor," she said. Moyo recommends shutting off all foreign aid to African within 10 years.
Global Development Briefing

Moyo is being heralded as the "Anti-Bono" and her Q&A with the NY Times can be seen here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/magazine/22wwln-q4-t.html

In my opinion Moyo makes an excellent case for the use of micro-finance and giving people the tools they need to survive. The goal of microfinance is to enable people to become business owners and create jobs - both are practices that support sustainable growth.

"Comprehensive impact studies have demonstrated that:
- Microfinance helps very poor households meet basic needs and protect against risks;
- The use of financial services by low-income households is associated with improvements in - household economic welfare and enterprise stability or growth;
- By supporting women's economic participation, microfinance helps to empower women, thus promoting gender-equity and improving household well-being;
- For almost all significant impacts, the magnitude of impact is positively related to the length of time that clients have been in the programme." (UNCDF Microfinance)

Want to learn more or become a lender? Check out the following sites:

• http://www.kiva.org/
• http://www.grameenfoundation.org/
• http://www.microfinancegateway.org/
• http://www.uncdf.org/english/microfinance/

With the global financial crisis hitting across all regions, countries and sectors, it is important not to let the world step back and banks withdraw from the practice of micro-lending.