Closing the ICT Gap in Australia's Aid Program

Bridging the Digital Divide in Aid Delivery

Michael Hutak,

Regional Director, Oceania

One Laptop per Child Foundation

Australian Institute of International AffairsSydney, 29 March 2011

“As the world grows smaller, our common humanity

will reveal itself.

Pres. Barack Obama, Inauguration Speech, 2009

Freedom to connect

• “…governments should not prevent people from connecting to the internet, to websites, or to each other…

• “The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly, only in cyberspace.”

ICT as a

standalone sector,

not an input to

other sectors

Goal 8, Target 8.F:

“In cooperation with the private sector,

make available the benefits of new

technologies, especially information

and communications“.

Indicators:

8.14 Telephone lines per 100 inhabitants

8.15 Cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

8.16 Internet users per 100 inhabitants

Millennium Development Goal 8F

Benefits of providing access to the Internet

• Every 1% increase in access to the Internet, exports increase by 4.3% across a wide range of developed and developing countries.

- World Bank 2009

Benefits of Investment in Education

• Increases national and lifetime individual earnings and productive output

• Less crime, slower population growth, reduced poverty, a cleaner environment

• Positive relationships between education and: Health

health of family members

schooling of one’s children

life choices made

fertility choices

infant mortalitySOURCE: OECD

AFGHANISTAN

Benefits of Investment in ICT for Education

• builds income-generating skills

• realises productive potential

• stimulates economic development (esp. Infrastructure – power, communications , internet)

• fosters the digital economy, e-governance, transparency

• ensures future long-term competitiveness in an interconnected, globalised world

• SOURCE: OECD

Search in Jan 2011: Latest reference to Digital Divide: Speech by Alexander Downer in 2003.

PIF Leaders’ Pacific Plan

In their Communiqué, Pacific leaders noted:

“the potential utility of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative and the need for education authorities, where appropriate, to assess the priority to be accorded to it in their countries as a tool for education and disseminating information to rural and remote communities…”

They ALSO “noted the launch of the Pacific Rural Internet Connectivity Scheme (PacRICS) with a view to assessing the usefulness of Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology in bridging the communication divide in rural and remote areas;”

One Laptop per Child

One Laptop per Child • Global non-profit organisation

• MIT Media Lab

• First project in Senegal in 1982

• XO laptop launched at WEF in 2006.

• First deployment Feb ‘07

• Mass production Nov ’07

• 2.4m laptops to children & teachers

• Projects in 40 countries in 19 languages

One Laptop per ChildOLPC Foundation

• 1-to-1 computing

• constructionist learning approach

• bridging digital divide

• champion for children and joyful learning

OLPC Association

• develops and manufactures the XO

• manages supply chain

• works w/ Govts, MOEs and partners on deployment

One Laptop per Child Partners

• Governments

• IGOs

• NGOs

• Private Sector

OLPC global private partners

OLPC global public partners

“An education project, not a laptop project…

…children are our mission, not our market.”

The XO laptop• Connected, rugged,

low-cost, low-powered,

Indoor/Outdoor screen

readable in sunlight

• E-book reader

• Loaded with content and

software to foster joyful, self-empowered learning

• Created expressly for the world's poorest children,

living in its most remote environments;

• Suitable for all children, with utility for all families, for

all communities

The XO 1.5 (from Feb 2010)

Rugged, no moving parts, VIA processor, provides 2x

the speed, 4x DRAM memory and 4x FLASH memory.

Runs both the Linux and Windows OS.

• VIA C7-M 1GHz Ultra Low Voltage Processor

• 1GB DDR2

• 2GB/4GB/8GB NAND Flash Storage

• Compressed JFFS2 file system: ~1GB

• Integrated Wireless

• Audio and Video Support

• USB 2.0 Ports (3)

• SD Card slot

• US$209 unit cost

• US$250 TCO

SIERRA LEONE

XO ships with >100 approved applications

19 address literacy

22 address numeracy.

• Documents

• Chat, mail and talk

• Media creation (music, images, video, audio)

• Programming

• Maths & Science

• Maps & Geography

• Media players

• Games

• Teacher tools

• Collections

Dual boot: Sugar (Linux) and WindowsXP PALESTINE OT

• Children lack opportunity not capability

• Learning to learn; learning by doing

• Inquiry beyond school, school hours

• Reaching the poorest, most isolated kids

• Using ICT to learn, not learning to use ICT!

a child-centred approach

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Five core principles

1. child ownership*2. low ages3. saturation4. connection5. free & open source* In the Pacific,

child is custodian

SOLOMON ISLANDS

2

Source: Plan Ceibal – Uruguay deployment 2009; 400,000 students received laptops and took part in survey.

3

Source: Peru deployment of 500,000 laptops to children in Peru; 80% of students included in survey results.

Extending the time for learning

Educational impact

Afghanistan: across six schools, an average improvement of 21.33% in standard test results after just 2 months classroom use.

Evaluations to date*:

• Haiti

• Uruguay

• Nepal

• Solomon Islands

• Ethiopia

• Australia

• MTC* Evaluations of One Laptop per Child,

OLPC Learning Group, 2010

PERU

SIG Evaluation: Recommendations

1. more teacher training 2. more guidance for parents

and communities3. adapt curriculum for

digital delivery4. train local community in

tech support5. address power solutions6. provide peripherals:

printers, ‘mice’, servers7. close involvement MOE8. sufficient laptops for new

enrolments 9. install M&E at outset;

establish baseline data

2.4m kids, 40 countries, 19 languages

The Pacific

• World’s largest ocean –pole to pole

• 46% of Earth's water surface

• 32% of Earth's total surface area

• Larger than all of the Earth's land area combined.

• approx. 25,000 islands

Pacific education & development

• c. 1.7m children aged 6-12• 40% 6-12yos attend no school• Church sector has more skills and capacity• Movement to preserve indigenous languages• Challenges from poverty, climate change, globalization,

disasters, rapid population growth and urbanization

Pacific dev partners

• Australia• New Zealand• Japan• China• Taiwan• USA• European Union

• SPC, PIFS• ITU• ADB• UNESCO• World Bank• UNDP• UNICEF• Corporates, HNW

Regional Partnershipprovide every child with a rugged, low-cost, low-powered, connected laptop, loaded with content and software for collaborative, self-empowered learning

Target: 700,000 kidsin Basic Education in 22 Pacific island nations.

One Laptop per Pacific Child

SOLOMON ISLANDS

OLPC requested by the governments of:

• Fiji • Samoa*

• FSM* • Solomon Is.*

• Nauru* • Tokelau

• Niue* • Tonga*

• Palau • Tuvalu*

• PNG* • Vanuatu *

• RMI • Fr. Polynesia

• Cook Is.* • Kiribati

• New Caledonia * = active projects

Funds expended – US$2.5 million:

• OLPC donates 5000 laptops to Pacific worth US$2m

• OLPC and SPC assign resources worth US$500k.

>6000 XOs in 41 schools in 10 Pacific countries.

Funds expended – US$2.5 million:

OLPC donates 5000 laptops to Pacific worth US$2m

OLPC and SPC assign resources worth US$500k.

Pacific Education Development Framework (2009-15)

“Preliminary results from OLPC trials show Pacific countries can make a quantum leap forward in realising goals of access, quality and equity in education…”

SOLOMON ISLANDS

OLPC Policy touchstones

1990 – Convention on the Rights of the Child

2000 – Dakar Framework on Education for All

2000 – Millennium Development Goals

• MDG 1 – poverty and hunger• MDG 2 – universal primary education• MDG 3 – gender equality• MDG8f – “In cooperation with the private sector,

make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.”

2005 – Tunis Commitment to bridge the digital divide, WSIS

OLPC Policy touchstones

2007 – The Pacific Plan, Pacific Islands Forum

2007 – Pacific Regional Digital Strategy, Pacific Islands Forum

2009 – Pacific ICT Ministerial Forum Communique

2010 – Pacific Education Development Framework

2010 – Framework for Action on ICT for Development in the Pacific

One Laptop per Pacific Child

• Focus on partnership

• Empowerment of communities

• Country-led national programmes

• Regional coord & tech assistance

• Country-to-country exchange

• Collaborative, inclusive approach

NIUE

OLPC Oceania

• a coalition of global, regional, national, local and individual actors

• governments, donors, civil society, educators, academics and volunteers

• TA to countries to establish 1-to1 computing as a sustainable reality.

SOLOMON ISLANDS

‘Every PACRICS site is an OLPC hub’

• Small 1.8m satellite dishes and ‘network-in-a-box’ server allows Internet connectivity, WiFinetworking

• SPC’s Rural Internet Connectivity System (PACRICS) programme is highly complementary with OLPC.

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Pilot Phase: lessons learned

• OLPC adds value for children, communities, countries

• aligns with Pacific goals and plans, inc. the MDGs

• High country-level demand in the Pacific

• Strong support at both political and community

• Small pilots provide an insufficient evidence base

• M&E integrated at the outset

• Broader-based TA needed to build country capacity

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

OLPC Oceania: project drivers

Strong

Partnerships

Sufficient Planning

OLPC Oceania 2008-15

Country Programs

Trials

Pilots

2008 –09 Pilots in 5 countries

2009-11OLPC introduced and assessed for scale-up 10 PICT countries

2012-15OLPC scaled up to deliver by 2015 one laptop per every child in basic education

Pacific deployment strategy supports sustainability

Develop Community Awareness

•Educate population on program benefits and XO functionality

•Develop social inclusion campaigns to achieve local support

•Launch training programs to promote XO usage, including teachers

Customize XO platform to address local needs

•Meet with officials from the minister of education to align on curriculum requirements

•Develop customized applications

•Digitize textbooks, perform translations

Train the core team

•Government to select 'Core Team' for execution of local program (IT expertise, etc)

•Train core team in all learning and technical elements of the product and program

•Train a set of local trainers who will be sent throughout the country

Develop infrastructure

•Provide advisory/ support for government in development of infrastructure (Electrical, IT, network mgmt)

•Local capacity building (inventory management, logistics, distribution, maintenance, financial tracking)

•Development of Internet access and connectivity infrastructure

Monitoring & Evaluation

•Initial field assessment baseline study

•Monitor initial program roll out; evaluate social, academic impacts annually

A

B

C

D

E

Coord Model: National Core TeamP

olit

ical

Te

am Prime Minister

Min. Foreign Affairs

Cabinet

• National leadership

• Strategy, Policy and Partnerships

• Donor Relations

Pla

nn

ing

Team Min. Treasury &

FinanceMin. National

Planning & Rural Development

Min. Community Development

• planning and project management

• identifies schools and sequence of roll-out

Pe

dag

ogy

Te

am Min. Education

• teacher training

• content, curricula

• localisation

• monitoring & evaluation

Logi

stic

s Te

am Min. Public Services

• Supply chain

• shipping, distribution,

• security,

• repairs, maintenance

• Sweat Equity

Tech

nic

al T

eam Min. National

Planning and Rural Development

Min. Info and Communications

• Deployment

• Infrastructure

• Power

• Communications

• Connectivity

Cross-cutting “whole of government” approach • Cabinet sub-committee, led at Ministerial level• Reports to National Planning Committee• Workplan developed at Dept Secretary level• Five core sub-teams...

• Catalytic effect on governments to deliver better quality education

• (by) creating community demand for better quality

• (while) mobilising resources and partnerships to meet demand

• adds value for children, countries, communities and donors

Better quality, value-adding

COOK ISLANDS

We need to know...

Will it work in the region?

Will it work in my country?

Will it work in my village?

We need to gather the evidence to answer these questions

We owe it to our children –and to their future – to find out

SOLOMON ISLANDS

OLPC in Asia

• Afghanistan (4k)• Cambodia (1k)• China (1k)• Indonesia (550)• Philippines (200)• Armenia (3.5k)• India (800)• Sri Lanka – WB (3.6k)• Malaysia (100) • Mongolia (14.5k)• Nepal – WFP (6k) • Pakistan (500)• Philippines (100)• Thailand (500)• Kyrgystan (>100)• Kazakhstan (10k)

SICHUAN, CHINA

Painting created on the XO by child from Gaire, Papua New Guinea, 2008.

Thank you.

www.laptop.org