Treat Refurbs and Africa with Respect Research Report

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Treat Refurbs and Africa with RespectResearch
Report

• Sara Kyofuna Shafika Isaacs
• SchoolNet Africa
• www.schoolnetafrica.net

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RESEARCH CONCEPT

• First investigation into African schoolnet
  experience with second hand PCs
• Part of ongoing interrogation and learning on
  most appropriate, affordable sustainable ICT
  access solutions (show value chain)
• Research objective
• To ascertain the experiences of African
  schoolnet and their local and international
  partners with second hand PCs
• to establish a framework and set of guidelines in
  using refurbished computers.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• What are the major international institutions
  involved in exporting second-hand and refurbished
  PCs to African schoolnet organizations?
• Where do they source their computers from and
  what is the pipeline of activities involved in
  procuring second-hand PCs for use by African
  schoolnets and African schools?
• What has been the experience of both those who
  were responsible for sending PCs to Africa and
  those receiving PCs from external sources in
  Africa?

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SAMPLING

• Confined to institutions that are known to
  SchoolNet Africa
• The three major categories of institutions
• international non-government organizations
  (NGOs),
• African schoolnets, and
• local computer refurbishment centres.

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International NGOs

• Computer Aid International
• World Computer Exchange
• Digital Links
• Schools Online
• World Links

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African SchoolNets

• Kenya SchoolNet
• SchoolNet Cameroon
• SchoolNet Mozambique
• SchoolNet Namibia
• SchoolNet South Africa
• SchoolNet Uganda
• Western Cape Schools Network
• World Links Zimbabwe

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Local Refurb Centres

• NetDay SA
• Free Com
• ALSO COMPUTERS FOR SCHOOLS CANADA as
  international case study

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RESEARCH OUTPUTS

• Video of discussion in Botswana in 2003
• Two research reports SNA and OSISA Feasibility
  Study
• Network with other important research
  initiatives CATIA, IDRC
• Comprehensive Course with detailed case studies
  of SchoolNet Namibia and Computers for Schools
  Kenya on SNA website
• Draft Policy Statement
• Campaign for 1M PCs Call For Partners Paper

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RESEARCH SHORTCOMINGS

• The limited research budget, which restricted
  extensive site visits across Africa
• Sample was limited, excluded private sector
• The researchers were fluent only in English
• Much of the research was based on online data
  gathering techniques.
• The time allocated to the research further
  limited a more extensive survey.

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RESEARCH FINDINGSDEFINITIONS

• NEW PC
• bought directly from a PC retailer/vendor
• has not been used before
• SECOND HAND/USED
• previously used for a period, usually three to
  four years (often on corporate lease agreements,
  particularly by corporations based in OECD
  countries)
• DUMPED
• Not suitable for re-use
• Dumping is the process of disposing of redundant
  or unusable technology in rubbish tips or
  landfill sites.

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WORKING DEFINITIONS

• END OF LEASE
• a used or second-hand PC
• reached the end of its lease
• to be replaced (often due to new software demands
  that cannot be met by older equipment)
• still in a workable condition
• END OF LIFE
• no longer in working condition
• require disposal

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WORKING DEFINITIONS

• REFURBISHED PC
• Used PC gone through process of testing,
  trouble-shooting, repairing and, where necessary,
  upgrading to enable productive re-use
• All refurbished PCs are also used/second-hand PCs
• Some imported second-hand PCs have not been
  refurbished.
• RECYCLING
• decommissioning and disassembly of end-of-life
  computers into their component parts
• the process of reclaiming the composite metals,
  glass and plastics for re-use in other products
• minimizing landfill and associated waste and
  pollution.

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CONTEXT ASSUMPTIONS

• Africa needs ICTs 4 equitable participation in
  the global economy, economic development and
  poverty alleviation
• Universal access is a desirable goal
• ICTs add value to education access, quality,
  management and administration
• Developed world constantly renewing end of lease
  PCs which offers a potential source for greater
  access

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PARADIGM

• Supply-side interventions mainly international
  donor and development agencies
• Largely small-scale pilot based on imported
  second hand PCs from developed countries
• Largely unco-ordinated, episodal, short-term or
  once-off projects
• Africa a consumer rather than a producer of ICTs,
  including African digitized content
• ICT4D agenda not considered environmental issues

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PIPELINE

• Sourcing and donation of second-hand PCs
• Procurement
• Refurbishment
• Distribution and installation to schools
• Maintenance and use in schools
• Disposal at end-of-life

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SOURCES OF PC DONATIONS

• WHO LARGE CORPORATIONS,
• GOVERNMENTS IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
• Attractive opportunity to donate large numbers of
  end-of-lease PCs
• Potential tax benefits - socially-responsible
  donations are often tax deductible
• Donations an alternative to covering high costs
  of disposal in landfills
• Cost of legitimate disposal (via recycling) of
  PCs in Europe estimated at between 40-70 Euros

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DONATIONS of PCs

• Poor, unusable quality received by African
  schools - bad reputation
• Now trend is towards leasing PCs instead of
  purchase
• End of lease more suitable for refurbishing,
• mostly still in good working order
• available in large volumes of the same make and
  model

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PROCUREMENT OF PCs

• WHO INTERNATIONAL BASED IN UK, EUROPE, USA
• OR
• AFRICAN NGOS, COMPANIES, SCHOOLNETS
• Sourcing suitable second-hand PCs for donation to
  African schools
• Collection and storage of donated PCs prior to
  shipping or refurbishing,
• Shipping of containers of PCs to Africa

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Nature of PC PROCUREMENT

• Size of donation
• Specification
• Cost
• Refurbishment before or after export

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PC REFURBISHMENT

• WHO INTERNATIONAL OR LOCAL REFURBISHERS
• All of the activities necessary to repair and
• upgrade second-hand PCs for re-use
• Testing of peripherals
• Data wipes
• Testing of base unit elements
• Loading operating systems
• Upgrading components installed and tested

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DISTRIBUTION TO SCHOOLS

• WHO LOCAL SCHOOLNETS IN AFRICA
• All of the activities necessary to transport,
  deliver
• and install PCs to African schools.
• Storage of PCs after shipping and prior to
  distribution to final destination
• Identification and assessment of suitable schools
  to receive PCs,
• Provision of infrastructural shortfalls in
  schools
• Transportation of PCs to final destination,
• Installation and networking of PCs
• Facilitating connectivity

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MAINTENANCE AND USE

• WHO LOCAL SCHOOLNETS IN AFRICA
• Process of maintaining and using PCs in African
• Schools include
• Establishment of a maintenance plan together with
  the school for ongoing maintenance of the site
• Identification and appointment of suitable
  technical support),
• Securing PC-labs against theft
• Facilitating sustainability of the site
• Facilitating access to teacher training,
  education content and educational use of PCs
• Ongoing replacement of end-of-life PCs and
  upgrading systems
• Helpdesk provision to support trouble-shooting

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END-OF-LIFE DISPOSAL

• Second-hand PCs a waste problem in the developing
  world
• Current environmental policies in Africa
  inadequate to deal with these numbers of
  end-of-life PCs appropriately
• No recognized African pipeline for disposal of
  end-of-life PCs

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E-WASTE DISPOSAL

• WHO GOVERNMENT OR SCHOOLS
• GOVERNMENT
• Policy with respect to disposal of PCs (including
  instituting fines for non-compliance and hiring
  the resources to monitor compliance),
• The encouragement of growth and development of
  local recycling and salvage companies to strip
  down end-of-life PCs,
• The education of schools (together with all PC
  users) about how to comply with policy and where
  to send their end-of-life PCs, and
• The lobbying of developed world donors to help
  African schools pay end-of-life disposal costs.

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E-WASTE DISPOSAL

• SCHOOLS
• The inclusion of the cost of disposal into
  acquisition cost when sourcing sponsorship for
  second hand PC programmes
• The disposal of end-of-life refurbs to
  appropriate organizations for recycling.
• Reference to DESCO Electronic Recyclers, used by
  NetDay in Johannesburg to recycle their
  end-of-life PCs

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EXPERIENCES -1

• Varying experiences from school to school and
  from country to country reflecting different
  contexts
• Are generic issues however and they include
• VOLUMES
• low volumes relative to demand
• African schoolnets who participated in this
  study, have received a total of approximately
  5000 second hand PCs of which about 95 were
  imported donations and 5 were sourced locally
• By 2003 fewer than 20,000 PCs have arrived in
  Africa from all the donor organizations combined
  over the past 5 years
• insufficient volumes of the same type of machines

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EXPERIENCES - 2

• QUALITY
• not good enough quality machines
• failure rate of PCs as high as 20
• Sometimes incomplete sets received which were
  unusable
• different makes and models of PC in single
  container difficult for upgrades, maintenance and
  useability in one PC lab
• do not include operating systems unless
  requested,
• do not include any educational software

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EXPERIENCES - 3

• MAINTENANCE AND USE
• Many of the refurbs that were installed in
  schools broke down repeatedly
• large percentage are no longer in use owing to
  repeated failure and shortage of spare parts
• shortage of appropriately trained technicians.

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EXPERIENCES - 4

• SERVICE
• Generally positive about role of international
  NGOs in securing PCs
• Little or no after-sale support by international
  NGOs
• Claims by internatinoal NGOs of linking to the
  Internet untrue remit ends with shipment

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RECOMMENDATIONS -1

• Pursue use of second hand and refurbished PCs in
  African schools
• Focus on success stories Computers for Schools
  Programme in Canada and its spin-off in Kenya
  appear to work well

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RECOMMENDATIONS -2

• African schoolnets to work towards an integrated,
  co-ordinated approach
• Awareness-raising on issues with policymakers
• Facilitate co-ordinated partnerships

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RECOMMENDATIONS -3

• Promote establishment of refurbishment centres in
  Africa
• Develop technical and managerial capacity through
  dedicated training programmes

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RECOMMENDATIONS- 3

• VOLUMES
• Source large volumes of the same make of
  second-hand PCs
• Source directly to manufacturers/lessors like IBM
  and Compaq instead of small volumes from numerous
  suppliers.
• Could potentially reduce the sourcing costs that
  they pass on to local schoolnets, and would
  probably improve the quality and volume of
  machines arriving in Africa

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RECOMMENDATIONS- 4

• QUALITY
• supply an additional 20 of machines free of
  charge
• take advantage of the cost of decommissioning PCs
  in the developed world and getting donors to
  agree to contribute a portion of their cost
  saving together with their second-hand PCs to
  African refurbishment initiatives
• specifying standards in terms of hardware,
  software and aesthetics and only to accept PCs
  that meet those standards
• Consider extending their activities of NGOs to
  include assistance with installation and support
  in African schools,
• Assist in helping to source the funds and
  expertise required to provide complete ICT
  solutions to schools.

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Thank you for your attention