This year we’re taking place in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. This is a matched funding round where donations will be matched pound for pound until we use up our pot. We’re really excited to take part as it means that every penny donated to us goes twice as far. We’re aiming to raise £12,000 all together. We’ll use the money raised to bring IT to 6000 students in Malawi, making sure they get the digital skills they’ll need for their future. Matched funding opens at midday on the 28th November and runs until the 5th December.

In Malawi, 98% of schools don’t have access to a computer, and, in particular, rural Malawian students lack access to IT facilities in classrooms. This means that there is a huge demand for IT skills in the Malawian workforce, with only 14% of secondary school students leaving school with the right qualifications. Consequently, Malawian schoolchildren are being left behind in the digital age due to a lack of access to adequate facilities, resulting in exclusion from the online world we take for granted.

A major cause of Malawian poverty is the high cost associated with transportation to a landlocked African country. This means that all imported products are much more expensive to buy than in most countries. For example, a 2nd hand PC in Malawi will typically cost £70. We’ve been able to get PCs into classrooms for around £12 per PC. Combined with our eLibrary, we are ensuring Malawian communities aren’t being left behind in the digital age by providing easily accessible learning resources.