$100 Laptop Project Recruiting Haiti Volunteers

Andrew Donoghue,

The earthquake-hit country is just one of the destinations where the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organisation wants to send interns and volunteers

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which has developed a low-cost notebook computer to help children in developing countries improve computer and learning skills, has announced that it is looking for volunteers and interns to help out with projects in countries including Afghanistan and Haiti.

The OLPC organisation announced this week that it looking for university students and young adults to take part in its 2010 Corps and Intern programmes which involve deployments to a variety of developing areas.

“We saw the passion and skills of university students through our 2009 Corps and Intern programs. We restructured these programs to allow some of the world’s best and brightest to make an even bigger contribution to our mission of creating educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children,” the organisation stated.

Volunteers to the Intern schemes must be prepared to give up three, six or even 12 months, while the OLPCorps scheme requires a full year’s commitment, the organisation said. “Participants will engage in capacity building projects ranging from technical infrastructure support and local software design to advocacy, classroom assistance, administration, and strategy design. Successful applicants will receive a stipend,” the organisation stated.

Earlier this week, the OLPC scheme announced that it is working with several other tech companies to dispatch communication equipment to help aid efforts in Haiti. “We want free ruggedized XO Laptops running Linux (with Wi-Fi, browser, kids’ learning activities and a whole lot more) to go to to aid/reconstruction groups who quickly explain to us their need,” the organisation stated.

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According to reports on the BBC in December, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is working on a follow-up to its XO laptop which has been adopted by more than 1.4m children in 35 countries. The latest device, known as the X0-3, will be available in 2012 and will cost less than $100, the organisation claims.

Details of the Corps scheme are here while an application for the Intern scheme are here.