Camara (social enterprise)

Camara
Founder Cormac Lynch
Area served
Sub-Saharan Africa, Jamaica, Haiti, Ireland
Method Volunteering, Aid
Slogan Transforming Education.[1]
Mission To use technology to improve education and livelihood skills in disadvantaged communities around the world.[2]
Website camara.org

Camara is a social enterprise that sends refurbished computers and provides digital literacy training to schools and other educational institutions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Uganda, Lesotho, Tanzania, Jamaica, Haiti and Ireland. It was set up in 2005 in Dublin, Ireland and has since grown with offices in the United Kingdom and the United States. Since 2005, Camara has raised and generated €20m, trained 24,000 teachers across 4,000 eLearning Centres, and installed 80,000 computers, enabling 1,800,000 children to become digitally literate and attain better grades.

Process

Camara takes in computers from individuals and businesses alike. Every computer donated to Camara is wiped seven times using DBAN in accordance with US Department of Defence standard 5220.22-M before being refurbished and loaded with a new operating system and educational software. The new operating system is generally Linux known as Camara Ubuntu 10.4 for Africa and Windows 7 for Ireland and the Caribbean.[3][4] Computers are boxed and shipped to one of 10 Camara’s Education Hubs in East Africa, Caribbean and Ireland. The Education Hub then sells the computer to ‘approved’ schools at a heavily subsidised price. To gain approval, the school must have a well ventilated and secure computer room with appropriate surge protection. The Camara package to schools consists of:

An important Camara's single donor is PwC, the company has donated over 2,500 computers. Noel Carroll, Director of IT for PwC said "As part of our Corporate Responsibility programme at PwC, we are delighted to continue our support of Camara’s work in improving education through technology in Ireland and Africa. It is very satisfying to know that the computers will be reused to benefit the education of children in disadvantaged schools."[6][7]

Camara Education Limited is registered with the Revenue Commissioners (CHY 16922) in Ireland, Camara Learning Limited is registered with the Charities Commission (1135540) in England and Camara Education Inc is registered as a 501(c)3 Organisation in the US.[8][9]

Awards

See also

References

  1. "Camara Home Page". Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  2. "Camara Home Page". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  3. "Ireland's Digital Champion, Lord Puttnam, celebrates Camara's 40,000th Computer". The Southern Star. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  4. "How We Reuse Your Computer". Camara (Charity). Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  5. "What We Do". Camara (Charity). Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  6. "PwC Computer Donation To Benefit 12,000 Disadvantaged Children". Camara. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  7. "PwC Corporate Responsibility - Community". PwC. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  8. "List of bodies who have been granted charitable tax exemption @ 15th June 2009 under Section 207, Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997." (MS Excel Spreadsheet). Office of the Revenue Commissioners. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  9. "Camara Homepage". Camara (Charity). Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  10. "The ICT Excellence Awards winners 2013". ICT Excellence Awards. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  11. "Previous Recipients of the Lord Mayor’s Awards" (PDF). Dublin City Council. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  12. "Ezetop charges to number one in Deloitte Technology Fast 50". Deloitte. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  13. "Prestigious International Innovation Award goes to Rwandan Operation of Irish Charity" (PDF). Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  14. "Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award Winners 2011" (PDF). Deloitte. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  15. "Previous Winners of ISA Industry Awards". Irish Software Association. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  16. "Guinness invites applications for Arthur Guinness Fund 2012". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  17. "Winners of the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards". David Manley Award. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  18. "Vodafone Ireland Foundation Announce Winners of the World of Difference Programme". Vodafone. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  19. "Cormac Lynch Alumni 2006". Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
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