Lessons Learned From Developing Countries to Help Aboriginal Kids in Canada

(HN, October 8, 2010) -- When The Belinda Stronach Foundation decided to help Aboriginal children in Canada gain increased access to the Internet and computer education tools, it first studied how children in developing countries used the laptops donated by the US-based NGO, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).

The Founder and Chairman of OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and others from the MIT Media Lab have grown an organization that has now provided loaded devices - the "XO Laptop" - to about 1.85-million children around the world - including Uruguay, Mongolia, Ghana, Rwanda, and Haiti.

Farah Mohamed, the President of the Belinda Stronach Foundation, said it took six months of research before a customized fix for aboriginal children in Canada coud be found. She and her team spent much of that time studying lessons learned from Negroponte's work in other OLPC countries.

"You need to make sure that when you go into areas they want it. That's the absolute first lesson: that you can't thrust this type of programme on any kind of community," Mohamed said in an interview today with HUMNEWS. So to that end, she said, all the major aboriginal leadership groups were courted for their support.

Mohamed added that aboriginal children were selected because, aside from facing a large number of challenges - such as mental heath issues, obesity and isolation - they are the fastest-growing population group in the country.

Despite its wealth - Canada is in the top tier of the UN's Human Development Index - there are still pockets of poverty and isolation where Internet access is limited, Mohamed said. "This phenomenal computer - that has Internet access, a camera and loads so many programmes - reduces that barrier right off the top."

Another principle learned from Negroponte and weaved into the Canadian initiative is that all children in the selected groups get a laptop. "it's not about picking and choosing - there is complete saturation. You don't want to have the have and have-nots in a school," she said, adding that even non-Aboriginal children qualify for a laptop.Belinda Stronach

Under the Foundation's plan, up to 5,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 will receive the OLPC laptop in Aboriginal communities across Canada. Each XO laptop is loaded with a suite of eight customized programs tailored specifically to the needs of Aboriginal children. They also come with customized educational software as well as more than 30 other programs developed by OLPC, and wireless capability.

Mohamed said several partners were approached - including Vale, ParticipACTION and the BMO Financial Group - to ensure that the programmes were customized for Canada. There is even a programme for financial literacy and another that presents books by Aboriginal authors in digital format. 

She said recipients will even be encouraged to record their elders using the built-in camera in the laptop. "So with this little gadget, we are tackling issues around education, connectivity, community, health - and so much more."

The Canadian initiative is involving what Mohamed describes as a "very robust infrastructure" that involves the principals, teachers, and parents. A unique aspect is that, instead of OLPC or Foundation conducting training, Aboriginal adolescents will be hired to act as trainers and resource people.

Reporting by HUMNEWS' Michael Bociurkiw in Canada