1,000 computers for Africa

Trainee teachers and students in Africa will receive 1,000 used Scottish Government computers thanks to a partnership with the Turing Trust charity.

The computers, which are no longer suitable for corporate use, will be sent to educational projects in Malawi.

This is the second batch of used IT equipment that the Information and Technology Services Division has donated to the trust, which was co-founded by James Turing in honour of his great uncle, the World War II codebreaker Alan Turing.

It comes after the charity, based in Edinburgh, was awarded £60,000 from the International Small Grants Programme this year to train 80 teachers in Malawi, who will teach 9,000 girls who would otherwise be excluded from digital literacy lessons because of gender, disability or where they live.

International Development Minister Ben Macpherson said:
"I’m very pleased that the Scottish Government will be donating 1,000 more computers to the Turing Trust, an excellent charity that works to improve digital literacy in sub-Saharan Africa. 

“These computers will be serviced and securely cleansed of data before being taken to Malawi for use by students and trainee teachers.

“We’re delighted to be extending the useful life of this computer equipment and, by doing so, improving the IT literacy and career prospects of hundreds of people.”

James Turing said:
"All of us at the Turing Trust are delighted that the Scottish Government are continuing to support us with their used IT equipment.

“This donation of 1,000 PCs will help about 18,000 students to learn vital IT skills. Beyond this the environmental impact from the donation will offset 280 tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of planting 700 trees.

“Our thanks go out to everyone at the Scottish Government for making this possible.”

Background 
The Scottish Government Small Grants Programme was established in 2013 to help grow the international development sector and to support it in assisting some of the world's most vulnerable communities. It supports Scotland-based organisations with an annual expenditure of less than £250,000.

The Scottish Government has a policy to refresh devices every four or five years, to ensure they are capable of running up-to-date secure software and operating systems to maintain cyber security.

This donation was made in partnership with Capito and HP Inc, via the Scottish Procurement National framework.