[kictanet] Refurbs Debate

Thu Sep 3 16:28:08 EAT 2009

Akich,
I may have to try your approach brother.  If Nduati is listening, please
contact me.

Regards

Ndemo.

> Daktari,
>
> It is sad as you say we have to waste foreign exchange for simple
> technology
> such as set top box. The government spend a lot of funds supporting
> polytechnics and other technical institutions and it is a concern why they
> would not undertake such projects for sustainability.
>
> I am reminded that if it was not of the Amercan industrialist's
> stubbornness, our so called VIPs would not be enjoying a ride in the
> powerful 8V engine block. Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motors kept the
> engineers locked in a workshop for one year until they succeeded in what
> they had ealier believed was impossible to achieve. Therefore if I were in
> your position, I would have picked one technical institution, assign them
> to
> produce those sets of top boxes and ensure no graduation takes place for
> that relevant department until they succeed. What is the purpose of
> education if it can not address challenges we face? Some might call it
> dictatorship, what is wrong with that if it can make the country move
> forward.
>
> Those are my thoughts,
>
> Akich Kwach
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> To: <kwach at archway-productions.com>
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 2:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Refurbs Debate
>
>
>> Dear Tom,
>> Thanks for your candid presentation.  You know my position - developing
>> local capacities that would free us from the yoke of dependance.  Indeed
>> as we launch the Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) this month, not any local
>> entrepreneur or institution that has come up to manufacture the simple
>> set
>> top box.  It is so simple that with a manual someone like myself
>> (without
>> engineering background) could assemle it.  In fact what we used to call
>> Handwork in school could sufice.
>>
>> This why I always say that it borders criminality when we deny our youth
>> employment by handing most of the simpler assemblies to Asia.  We must
>> in
>> our discussions develop a graduated method of transitioning from our
>> current dependencies, what Steve and Dave in the book, Three Laws of
>> Performance, refer to as default future that is laced with our past
>> achievements.
>>
>> Tom you have developed great capacity.  We need to support you to
>> assemble
>> PCs, Laptops etc.  This is what development is all about.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> We at Computers for Schools Kenya have been very closely following the
>>> debate on "affordable" computers - particularly with reference to
>>> refurbs.
>>> Many of the comments are informed and no doubt well intentioned, but
>>> many
>>> others have left us wringing our hands in despair!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> CFSK has been working for the last seven years to bring the benefits of
>>> ICT to resource-challenged educational & training institutions and
>>> community information access & resource centres. At our foundation,
>>> based
>>> on objective and empirical research, we sought to design an
>>> intervention
>>> model that would meet the needs of the client group within their
>>> resource
>>> limitations without unduly compromising quality of access or service.
>>> After reviewing several options (details of which I will not go into),
>>> we
>>> narrowed down quality refurbs from reputable sources as the way to go.
>>> Our
>>> decision was informed by the following:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Intervention models in other countries. We were particularly impressed
>>> by
>>> the Computers for Schools Canada Programme and a similar programme in
>>> Colombia and Chile - all of which had achieved immense success in
>>> taking
>>> computers to educational institutions and community information centres
>>> such as libraries. Though these three were the biggest such organised
>>> interventions virtually all other countries in the West as well as the
>>> Asian Tigers had similar programmes but on a smaller scale. ALL were
>>> utilising refurbs from the corporate and related sectors that of
>>> necessity
>>> have to stay right on the cutting edge of ICT, and therefore have
>>> available functional albeit older PCs available from time to time as
>>> they
>>> upgrade.
>>>
>>> The needs of the target groups and the use to which they were going to
>>> put
>>> the computers ands related accessories they would obtain through us. We
>>> established that the refurbs we were able to obtain would meet their
>>> requirements: run Windows, run MS Office Suite, run the educational
>>> eContent available, and access the Internet where other requisite
>>> infrastructure was in place.
>>>
>>> Functionality of the equipment. CFSK was able to enter into
>>> partnerships
>>> with reputable organisations overseas that guaranteed that only quality
>>> and fully functional refurbs were imported by us. Working with these
>>> partners, we have over time revised the minimum specs for such
>>> equipment
>>> that we will accept - starting off with PIs when we started off in 2002
>>> to
>>> our present day minimum of PIVs with at least 256MB of RAM and 20GB
>>> HDD.
>>> As part of that process, we even anticipate that from the second
>>> quarter
>>> of next year, we shall only accept TFT and not CRT monitors.
>>>
>>> Affordability, which we very deliberately put last. All listers will
>>> remember that it is only in the last four to five years that the
>>> Government has made substantive budgetary allocations for ICTs in the
>>> kinds of institutions I am talking about and very wisely too. In 2002
>>> when
>>> we started, money for ICTs had to be raised by the institutional
>>> community
>>> from their meagre resources or from corporate and other donors. And
>>> even
>>> the allocations now being made by Government to these institutions,
>>> generous as they may be amidst all the other pressing needs, are not
>>> enough to saturate them with ICTs at the required level. Refurbs
>>> offered
>>> and still offer an affordable option that gives good value for money.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To allege that refurbs constitute dumping is to be simplistic to a
>>> fault.
>>> Where the refurbs are not functional, do not meet the needs of the
>>> recipients, or are not good value for money, then that would be dumping
>>> -
>>> and it maybe that a certain amount of this is happening. But to condemn
>>> refurbs en masse, is to fail to acknowledge that this country's nascent
>>> digital revolution is as a result of these much maligned equipment -
>>> not
>>> outrageously priced brand new equipment. At CFSK we are for quality,
>>> and
>>> preferably new, computers. Admittedly, it would be lovely to provide
>>> all
>>> our institutions with ultra-modern 2.0GHz Duo Core computers with 2GB
>>> RAM
>>> and 200GB on the HDD, etc. And where they can afford them, especially
>>> with
>>> the Government's very welcome intervention in allocating resources for
>>> the
>>> purpose, we are glad to help them acquire quality brand new equipment.
>>> However, where an institution has limited resources, we must ask the
>>> questions: do they NEED the immense capacity that brand new computers
>>> at
>>> current "standard" specs provide, and should they expend limited
>>> resources
>>> on such capacity when they may in fact not need it?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Being cognizant of the fact that ALL electronics, new and refurbished,
>>> ultimately become eWaste, CFSK working with both local and
>>> international
>>> partners has established and eWaste Management Centre. This Centre,
>>> through innovative disassembly, reuse, recycling and re-export is
>>> managing
>>> ICT-related eWaste in a manner that is protective of the environment
>>> and
>>> mindful of public health. Up-scaling and out-scaling initiatives such
>>> as
>>> this will ensure we are all protected from the hazards of electronic
>>> waste, including that which begun its life as brand new equipment.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Eltimately, as one of the listers very wisely suggested, what is
>>> required
>>> is a level-headed consultation amongst ALL stake holders - civil
>>> society,
>>> commercial enterprises, a sampling of end users and the regulatory
>>> authorities - with a view to defining a rational policy in this area
>>> that
>>> advances rather than stunts the pivotal sector. We would be ardent
>>> participants.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Tom Musili
>>> Executive Director
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>> Computers for Schools Kenya
>>> Semco Business Park | Unit 1, Mombasa Road | P.O. Box 48584-00100 |
>>> Nairobi , Kenya |
>>> Tel:254(0)202060919, Tel/Fax: 254 (0)20 2060920 Mobile
>>> (0)722-618788|Email:tom at cfsk.org|Website: www.cfsk.org
>>>
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>>
>>
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