Founded 2000 Location Hull, Massachusetts Volunteers 300–400 active | Type 501(c)3 Employees 2 | |
Focus Computer reuse and education | ||
World Computer Exchange (WCE) is a United States Canada based charity organization whose mission is "to reduce the digital divide for youth in developing countries, to use our global network of partnerships to enhance communities in these countries, and to promote the reuse of electronic equipment and its ultimate disposal in an environmentally responsible manner." According to UNESCO, it is North America's largest non-profit supplier of tested used computers to schools and community organizations in developing countries.
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History
The organization was founded in 1999 by Timothy Anderson.
The organization is a non-profit organization, and tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) in the US. WCE headquarters is in Hull, Massachusetts, and there are 15 chapters in the USA and five in Canada. In 2015, WCE opened a chapter in Puerto Rico.
By November 2002, the organisation shipped 4,000 computers to 585 schools in many developing countries.
By October, 2011, along with partner organizations, WCE has shipped 30,000 computers, established 2,675 computer labs. In February 2012, Boston chapter (also headquarters chapter) in Hull, Massachusetts sent out their 68th shipment bringing their total to 13,503 computers.
Activities
WCE provides computers and technology, and the support to make them useful in the developing communities. WCE delivers educational content and curriculum on agriculture, health entrepreneurship, and even water and energy. The program also ensures that teachers will know how to use the technology and content by providing staff and teacher training, as well as ongoing tech team support.
Each chapter of WCE collects donated computers, refurbishes and prepares the shipment for the projects. While preparing shipments, they also raise funds to ship the computers. Volunteers of WCE chapters inspect each computer, repair if necessary, install operating system as well as educational material to each computer.
WCE calls recipients of its computers "partners." The requests of computer donations originate from the partners. Once the refurbished computers and the funds to ship the computers are fulfilled, WCE initiates shipment. When possible, WCE coordinates the shipments of computers with other non-profit organizations, such as University of the People, Peace Corps, Computers4Africa.org, ADEA (Assoc. for the development of Education in Africa) and others.
In November 2015, WCE sent two 2 Spanish speakers to visit Honduras for 2 weeks in 2015 to pilot an employable tech skills training for youth under a WCE contract with World Vision.
The WCE Computers for Girls (C4G) initiative is field testing of eight tools to provide technological training and STEM education for interested teachers helping their girl students in four West African countries (Ghana, Liberia, Mali, and Zambia) and Pakistan.
eCorps
To install the computers at a partner site without access to experts otherwise, WCE recruits and supports volunteers from the USA under its "eCorp" initiative. To be eligible, volunteers must be 21 years of age, have necessary tech skills, and be prepared to self-fund their travel and accommodation expenses. 18 eCorps training teams have worked in Dominican Republic (2), Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana (2), Honduras, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Tanzania (4), and Zimbabwe.
The eCorps "Travelers" program is geared towards those already planning to go to one of the countries in the WCE network, to provide tech support during their trip. 79 eCorps "Travelers" have visited the following 41 developing countries including: Armenia, Bolivia (2), Cambodia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic (2), Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India (2), Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya (2), Liberia, Malawi, Mexico (2), Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru (2), Puerto Rico, Qatar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa (2), Swaziland, Tanzania (2), Togo, and Uganda. In FY'15, "Travelers" visited: Cambodia, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and South Africa.
Computers
WCE uses Ubuntu operating system to prepare computers, citing the cost of license and less prone computer viruses while providing sufficient computing environment such as word processor and printer drivers. Unlike One Laptop per Child, the prepared computers do not contain specialized software. Each computer is loaded with educational materials which allows users to learn materials without internet connection.