MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--One Laptop per Child Association announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the Colombian government through La Agencia Nacional para la Superación de la Pobreza Extrema –ANSPE. ANSPE has national responsibility to develop and implement a strategy to alleviate the most severe cases of poverty in Colombia. The ANSPE initiative is under the direction of the President’s Office and ANSPE Director Samuel Azout.
Under the agreement OLPC will provide its XO laptops to children in Chia, Colombia with the objective to determine if the children can serve as the catalyst to improve the overall welfare of their families. The children will use the laptops combined with new software and games developed through OLPC to facilitate greater use of the laptops by the children’s parents. By advancing the learning of both the children and parents it will be tested whether the overall welfare of the family improves. Children will use the laptops in school and take them home after school. Traditionally 70% of laptop usage in an OLPC project is outside the classroom, but this is one of the first projects that will formally evaluate the benefits to the parents and the family from the availability of a laptop.
“OLPC has always played a significant role in increasing social inclusion through its projects and to work with the national government and ANSPE on a project that could be expanded nationwide is a great opportunity for OLPC," said Rodrigo Arboleda, CEO of OLPCA. “OLPC has a long history in Colombia and over 30 projects in different locales and we are honored to be selected by the Government to start such an innovative program for the alleviation of poverty,” said Arboleda.
About One Laptop per Child
One Laptop per Child (OLPC at http://www.laptop.org) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression. In partnership with the public and private sectors and non-governmental organizations and supported by comprehensive implementation and pedagogical services, OLPC seeks to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power connected laptop that empowers individual learning and growth.