Computers for Schools Kenya-Propelling Kenya in the Digital Age

Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK), is a charitable non-governmental organization registered under the Kenya Non-Governmental Organizations Co-ordination Act. Our headquarter offices are located at Queensway House, Kaunda Street, 3rd Floor, Nairobi Kenya. We have Regional Centres hosted by various institutions country-wide. These Regional Centres are located in various parts of the country; Kakamega, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Meru, Machakos, Embu, Nairobi and Mombasa.

Our vision is the establishment of an information-rich Society actively participating in sustainable development. We hope to help achieve this by facilitating the development of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and capacity in educational and training institutions as well as community information access & resource centres.

In the ten years that we have been in existence, CFSK has sourced over 50,000 Personal Computers that we have deployed in well over 3,500 Public Secondary and Primary schools, Technical Training Institutes, Teacher Training Colleges, Medical Training Centres and several Universities. We also operate a comprehensive preventive and curative maintenance programme for these computers to ensure they are fully operational all the time upon deployment. In a number of these institutions, we have also placed power generators, Internet access and the World Space Direct Media Service. We have successfully developed digital multimedia teaching/ learning resources specifically intended for our national Secondary School curriculum – providing both teachers and students with an invaluable modern tool that makes learning fun and stimulating. We have also developed software tools for school management.We have also carried out training for over 12,000 heads of schools and Education Officers, teachers and tutors, and members of Schools’ Boards of Governors and Parents/Teachers Associations.

Our organisational and operational model has been recognised as an exemplar, with ongoing efforts to replicate the same in other African countries. In 2007 and 2008 we won the African ICT Achievers Award for Top Civil Society Organisation to Bridge the Digital Divide in Africa. In July 2010, the Executive Director, was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Humanities and in consideration of excellence in governance by the United Graduate College and Seminary for his contribution to humanity (facilitating access to technology and learning resources to the rural poor and marginalized groups).

CFSK is a partnership of communities, private sector corporations, civil society organizations, and international charities and development partners working together for the long-term good of the nation. We have established and signed working MOU’s with MOE, KIE, KCB Foundation, Safaricom Foundation, Barclays Bank, Microsoft, KDN, Access Kenya, KQ, Computer Aid International, Partners World Wide, e.t.c. Our considerable success is a directly attributable to this close partnership, as a result of which an estimated 2,000,000 young Kenyans now have access to information and communication technologies.
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The need to create an information rich society has prompted us to register Digital Pipeline Africa, so as to replicate Computers for Schools organizational and operational model in 11 African countries. This is with an aim of creating sustainable E-waste management practices and empowering education institutions, Organizations and communities to bridge the digital divide.