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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I just contributed the following article to OLPC News:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-left:solid #00CC00 6.0pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 8.0pt;background:white'>
<h2 style='margin-top:0in;background:white;border:none;padding:0in'><b><font
size=4 color="#00cc00" face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:15.0pt;
color:#00CC00;font-weight:bold'><a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/use_cases/business/olpc_xo_economic_development.html">OLPC
and Economic Development</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
</div>
<h3 style='margin-top:0in;background:white'><i><font size=1 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:9.0pt;color:#333333;font-style:italic'>Posted
on July 02, 2007 by Guest Writer in <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/commentary/" title="">Commentary</a>: <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/commentary/academia/" title="">Academia</a>, <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/use_cases/" title="">Use Cases</a>: <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/use_cases/business/" title="">Business</a>, <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/" title="">Sales Talk</a>: <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/donors/" title="">Donors</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></i></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><a
href="http://www.netevents.org/bryan%20upload/Nicholas%20Negroponte19.JPG"><font
color="#36414d"><span style='color:#36414D;text-decoration:none'><img border=0
width=267 height=325 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C7BCA3.7EC10AA0"
style='border-bottom-color:black;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-width:
2px;border-left-color:black;border-left-style:solid;border-left-width:2px;
border-right-color:black;border-right-style:solid;border-right-width:2px;
border-top-color:black;border-top-style:solid;border-top-width:2px'></span></font></a><br>
</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'><a
href="http://www.olpctalks.com/nicholas_negroponte/negroponte_netevents.html">OLPC
is about eliminating poverty</a></span></font><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'>Nicolas Negroponte’s claim that One Laptop Per Child is an
education project, not a laptop project is well known and often discussed. What
is less well known is <a
href="http://www.olpctalks.com/nicholas_negroponte/negroponte_netevents.html">his
claim</a> that OLPC is about eliminating poverty: <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'>"But what One Laptop Per Child is, it's about eliminating
poverty. And that's the reason we do it, that's why everybody who's involved in
the project is involved with it. And the belief is very simple. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>That is that
you can eliminate poverty with education, and no matter what solutions you have
in this world for big problems like peace or the environment, they all involve
education. In some cases, it could be just with education and in no case is it
ever without education. And we particularly focus on primary education."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'>As I mentioned in my last posting, <a
href="http://www.olpcnews.com/use_cases/education/one_laptop_per_child_education.html">OLPC
and Education Reform</a>, I am <a href="http://robertkozma.com/index.html">Robert
B. Kozma, Ph.D.</a>, an international consultant on technology in service of
developing countries. I have just returned from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> where I had an opportunity to
reflect on the claim that OLPC is about eliminating poverty. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>For the past
two years, I have been working with the Education Committee in Sauri, a set of
rural villages of about 5,500 people in western <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I have served as a pro bono
(or should that be pro-Bono) consultant to the Committee members as they
formulated their plans for a community learning resource center. I have also
supported their efforts by donating a dairy cow to the school lunch program,
providing scholarships, and purchasing equipment and supplies for the center,
including books, a digital camera, and a laptop.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><img border=0 width=267 height=232 id="_x0000_i1026"
src="cid:image002.jpg@01C7BCA3.7EC10AA0" style='border-bottom-color:black;
border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-width:2px;border-left-color:black;
border-left-style:solid;border-left-width:2px;border-right-color:black;
border-right-style:solid;border-right-width:2px;border-top-color:black;
border-top-style:solid;border-top-width:2px'><br>
</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Sauri
education committee</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Approximately
67% of the people in Sauri live on less than $1 a day. Most are subsistence
farmers, growing maize, beans, tomatoes, onions, and kale. Until just a few months
ago, there was no electricity in Sauri. There is now an electrical line to the
clinic and soon there will be one to the learning resource center.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Economic
development efforts in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> will have to
address the needs of people like those in Sauri because 70-80% of the labor
force in most Sub-Saharan countries is in rural areas. And poverty is the
highest in the rural villages of <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Furthermore,
the dramatic increases in economic output and standard of living that we are
seeing in countries like <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
were built on twenty years of increased farm productivity in the rural areas. <st1:place
w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> has yet to experience this Green Revolution. In
fact, during the last twenty years, agricultural productivity in <st1:place
w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> has actually dropped each decade and hunger has
increased. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Given this
context, it is perhaps not surprising that members of the Education Committee
in Sauri want to build a community learning resource center that can help them
increase the productivity of their farms and improve their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>The
Committee’s emphasis on this learning center is particularly appropriate
since 90% of the students in Sauri do not go beyond primary school—not
because they are incapable or unmotivated but because their parents can not
afford the tuition and uniforms. So the Education Committee sees the center as
a means to provide education for out of school youths as well as adults. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><img border=0 width=200 height=161 id="_x0000_i1027"
src="cid:image003.jpg@01C7BCA3.7EC10AA0" style='border-bottom-color:black;
border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-width:2px;border-left-color:black;
border-left-style:solid;border-left-width:2px;border-right-color:black;
border-right-style:solid;border-right-width:2px;border-top-color:black;
border-top-style:solid;border-top-width:2px'><br>
</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Sauri
community radio station</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>In planning
their center, the Committee members wanted to know how technology might be used
to achieve their goals. In response to their interests, I visited eight
community telecenters in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Uganda</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Tanzania</st1:country-region>, and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>;
interviewed the managers, staff, and community users; and then returned to
Sauri to report what I learned and make my recommendations to the Committee. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>While
technology was a common feature of all these telecenters, the key was the role
that it played in providing villagers with access to needed information and the
means to communicate it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>I found
computers in all the centers, but bicycles, books, cell phones, community radio
stations, and video tapes were also used to obtain and share information. This
information often related to farm practice and productivity: information on
seeds, planting, fertilizing, weeding, and harvesting, as well as animal
breeding, feeding, and treatment of diseases. Information on current market
prices was also highly valued. But desired information also included that on
water harvesting, energy efficiency, education, health, nutrition, culture,
local news, and even national sports.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Like Nicolas
Negroponte—and the villagers of Sauri—I believe that technology has
a role to play in supporting economic development in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>
and reducing poverty. But my conclusions about how technology should be used
are quite different than those of Negroponte. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Based on my
research in other rural villages, I recommended that the Sauri community
learning resource center be equipped with a variety of means of obtaining
information that was needed by the community. This included books, magazines,
videos, and a single computer with access to the Internet. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333"
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:#333333'><img border=0 width=200 height=191 id="_x0000_i1028"
src="cid:image004.jpg@01C7BCA3.7EC10AA0" style='border-bottom-color:black;
border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-width:2px;border-left-color:black;
border-left-style:solid;border-left-width:2px;border-right-color:black;
border-right-style:solid;border-right-width:2px;border-top-color:black;
border-top-style:solid;border-top-width:2px'><br>
</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Nakaseke village
telecenter</span></font><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>In addition
to making these resources available to villagers as a means of distributing
information, the center should also use a low-wattage radio transmitter. They
should also set up small satellite centers in various locations across the
geographically dispersed set of villages that constitutes Sauri and equip them
with a radio receiver and a cell phone that villagers can use to call into the
telecenter with their questions. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Finally, a
key to the success of the center is having a manager who is not only
technologically skilled but familiar with the informational needs of the
villagers and is capable to searching the vast resources of the internet to
meet these needs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>So to return
to the issue of OLPC and economic development, it is important to start with an
understanding of what people need and their context rather than what the
technology can be made to do. Taking this perspective, it is not clear that the
widespread distribution of computers to children is the way to eliminate poverty
in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=2 color="#333333" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#333333'>Rather than
spending hundreds of millions of dollars on XO machines, wouldn’t it be
better and cheaper for national governments to support rural villages in their
efforts to set up and staff internet-connected community telecenters where
villagers have access to the information they need to improve their livelihoods
and their lives?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>____________________</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Robert B. Kozma, Ph.D.</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Emeritus Director and Principal Scientist</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Center for Technology in Learning</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>SRI International</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address tabIndex="0"
style="BACKGROUND-POSITION: left bottom; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(res://ietag.dll/#34/#1001); BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat-x"
w:st="on"><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;color:blue'>2151 Filbert St</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><font
size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>.</span></font><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>San Francisco</span></font></st1:City><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94123</st1:PostalCode></span></font></st1:place><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=ES
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>USA</span></font><font
color=blue><span lang=ES style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=ES
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>CTL Website: </span></font><font
size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><a href="http://ctl.sri.com"><span lang=ES>http://ctl.sri.com</span></a></span></font><font
color=blue><span lang=ES style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Personal Website: <a
href="http://robertkozma.com">http://robertkozma.com</a></span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Phone +1 415 292 2471</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Mobile +1 415 623 4340<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
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