Phillips J - Corporate Involvement in Development Initiatiaves

Corporate Involvement in Development Initiatives Intel and the OLPC project: A case study examining the role of the profit incentive in Humanitarian interventions By Jennie Phillips, 9165797 | April 24, 2008 INTRODUCTION TheUniversal Declarationof HumanRights, Article26, states,“E veryonehasari ghttoeduc ation”(United Nations, 1948).March 1990,delegates from155countriesmetinJomtein, Thailand,to adopttheWorl dDeclarationof Educationfor All;anagreement toprovidech ildren,yout handadultswi thquality basiceducat ionby2000( UNESCO, 1990).InApr il2000,goalsstill farfromreach, 1,100partici pantsattendedtheWorldEducationForuminDakar, Senegal,tor eaffirmtheir commitmenttof ullandequal opportunityf oreducationfor all(UNESCO, 1990).Theou tcome: TheEducationf orAll(EF A)Coordination. Amovementwitht heaimtomeet thelearning needsofallch ildren,youth andadultsby2015(UNESCO,1990). In2008,th ehalfwaypoint ,thesegoal saredistant frombeingreal ized.Roughly twobilli onchildrenare inadequately educated,77mil lionofthose childrennotevenenrolledinschool(UNESCO, 2007;OLPC,2008 ).Oneinthr eedoesnot completethef ifthgrade( OLPC,2008). Primaryschool feesarebeingc ollectedin89 outof103 countriessurv eyed (UNESCO,2007) .Anddeveloping countriespossess limitedresourc estoallocat etoeducation. Incontrast totheUSA, whospendsapproximatel y$7500perpupi lannually, manydevelopingc ountriesarerestrictedto spendinglessth an $20peryear perpupil(OLPC, 2008). Overthepast 10years,t woinitiativ eshaveemergedwit hpotential tohelpmeetthegoalsestablishedby theEducation forAllini tiative,and bridgethed igitaldivi de(UNESCO,199 0).Thefirs t,theOneL aptopPerChil d(OLPC)projec t,isa non-profitinit iativeaimedat providingaff ordableanddurabl elaptopsto everychild intheworld. Thesecond,theIntel WorldFirst program,isa for-profitini tiativewit hsimilarobje ctives.Thisarticlei sacasestudy examiningther oleof IntelinOL PC’spursuit tomeetthe educationforal lgoalsby 2015.Theaimistodrawbroader impactsoft heroleoff or- profitorganiz ationsindevelopment endeavours.The articleprov idesabrief backgroundofbot hinitiati ves,followedb y anexaminationoftheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofpartnershipwith Intel. THE CONTEXT The History of OLPC’s XO Laptop TheOLPCinspirat ionoriginatesi nruralCambodia, April2002, afterasmall donationunveil edtremendouspotenti al.It wasNicholasNegropont eandhisfamil ywhodistrib uted20laptop computerstomember softhecommunit y,and withinlit tletimereal izedtheirimpact.Thisc hangesparkedadreami nthemindofNegroponte,MITgraduateand cofounderofthe MITMediaLaborat ory;adreamt ooutfitev erychildi nthedeveloping worldwitha laptop.Eight monthslater, January2003, hepresentedhis idea,“a$100l aptopforthe poorchildrenof theworld– TheXOLaptop” (OLPC,2007). Theoptimismwas high,andwit hinsixmonthsl argecorporations hadjoinedthepr ojectincluding Google,AMD,and RedHatLinux. Thewordspreadt hroughoutth eAmericasandacross theglobe, andcorporations suchasNortel,QuantaandWikiped iagotinvolv ed.InAugust 2006Libya becamethefirs tcountrytoorderthe laptops, requesting1.2million;enoughforevery school-agedchil dinthecount ry(OLPC,2007).InDecemberandJanuary, UruguayandRwandaal soannouncedtheir commitment.Februar y2007,machines weredeployedin theirlaunch countriesandNegr oponte’svisionb ecamereality ashislaptops touchedtheh andsofthechildreninthedeveloping worldforth efirstti me,inNigeria, Uruguay,Braz il,Libya,Pakistan,A rgentina,andThai land.(Kirkpa trick,2007). The History of Intel’s Classmate PC TheIntelWor ldAheadprogrami sIntel’s attemptatb ridgingthe digitaldiv ide,withan aimtobring technologyt o everyone,anywhere intheworld (Intel,2007).Following thesuccessf ulleadofOL PC,Intel releasedtheir versionofthe XOlaptop,th eIntel-powered “ClassmatePC” onMarch22,2007. Alaptopdesi gnedtomeetth e“needsofclassr ooms aroundtheworld”, beganiniti alshipmentsin late2007toBr azilandMexico( Intel,200 7).Countries includingPaki stan andNigeriahave alsocommittedt opurchasingt heirlaptopsf ortheirschools(Darling, 2008).OnApril 3,2008, Intel unveiledthei rsecond-generation ClassmatePC, marketingit asthe'Netbook' forWorldwideE ducationMarket.

Phillips J - Corporate Involvement in Development Initiatiaves

Documents

Transcript of Phillips J - Corporate Involvement in Development Initiatiaves