CDI - Linking Information Technology with Citizenship
Country: Brazil
Organization: CDI - Committee for Democracy in Information Technology
2) Sector of activity: Education
 Children with computers
3) Description of your products or services: The Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization with the mission of fostering the social inclusion of less- privileged social groups by using Information and Communication Technologies as tools to encourage active citizenship. CDI’s main product are the Information Technology and Citizens Rights Schools ITCRSs), implemented in partnership with community-based associations. We work in low-income communities and with institutions assisting individuals with special needs including, among others, the physically and mentally disabled, the visually impaired, homeless children, prisoners, and indigenous populations. Working in a different way from the Telecenter’s implemented in the recent years in Brazil, CDI developed a socio-educational approach to teach information technology. Students learn how to use computers and softwares while discuss issues of particular interest to their community, such as human rights, environment, sexual education, health and non-violence. Furthermore, the model is based on the concept of helping people help themselves.
4) Description of the operational model: The ITCRSs are informal teaching spaces made possible through a partnership between CDI and community organizations or associative movements such as: community centers, class entities, religious groups, neighborhood associations, among others. CDI offers the community capacity building for the educators, helps to develop methodologies, specific curriculums for different social groups, and lends computers, printers, softwares and handouts to support the educators work. Besides constantly monitoring their technical and pedagogical development, CDI also provides administrative support.
5) Description of the financial model: One of the main points of CDI's work is that the ITCRSs have to be financially sustainable (through monthly fees) or financed (funded by partner institutions), besides being managed by the community that has implemented it. The ITCRSs need to set a symbolic monthly fee (around US$2,00) that not only has the pedagogical function of valuing their work, but also allows them to maintain and pay their educators. The students that cannot pay even the symbolic monthly fee are not prevented from studying, but they need to help in some other way, by contributing to the school chores. We invest in the partner institution’s ability to develop its social-educative enterprise making it an active part of the process. We believe this model will break the so commonly found paternalistic attitude towards programs focused on low-income populations. In addition, CDI forms partnerships with philanthropic organizations, companies, government agencies and individual donors. At last, CDI Headquarters has hired a professional to focus and stimulate the community partnerships and the creation of co- operative societies as well in the ITCRSs. This will help their sustainability and the community development.
Client fees represent this approximate percentage of operational budget: 13%
6) Key operational partnership: Since his creation, CDI has faced with many important partnerships, which many of them has an active role in the CDI's development. Among them, we can exemplify with Vale do Rio Doce Foundation, which are our partners since 2001 and they support the operational expenses of the ITCRSs, the training of the educators, CDI Regional Offices' visits for follow up, besides the realization of an annual research focusing in the social impact reached by CDI. Others key operational partnerships are Skoll Foundation, Avina and UNESCO, besides Ashoka.
7) Current outreach:
We are at the Mature stage. CDI celebrates ten years of invaluable pioneering work in 2005. As a result of its efforts, CDI has today a network of 965 ITCRSs, 30 CDI Regional Offices spread over 19 Brazilian states and 11 CDI International Offices spread over 08 other countries (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and USA). In addition, CDI is now focusing its attention to improve and strengthen the quality of the work developed at the ITCRSs and measuring our social impact in a more systematic way, which means that CDI is in a mature stage of its development which allows us to start to develop in 2 Brazilian states and 1 Brazilian city (Acre, Goiás and Nova Iguaçu, in Rio de Janeiro) a new public political policy for the digital inclusion cause.
How many clients have benefited from your product/service in total? Over the last year? As a result of the organization's work, since 1995 more than 500.000 children and young people have been trained in information technology and introduced to citizen rights, finishing the CDI’s course. Only in the last year, about 150.000 students benefited directly from the ITCRSs. Furthermore, the ITCRSs in a low-income community interferes not only in the student's reality but in the student’s family and even in the whole community too, making unpredictable the number of our beneficiaries.
What percentage of your clients is below the poverty line ($2 per day)? 0% The work CDI develops in the low-income community needs a
proactive position of the community, not even being
interested in receiving the ITCRSs but being responsible
for it. The ITCRS is created to be managed by the community
that has implemented it, which are responsable inclusively
to making it a sustainable project. So, the percentage of
the communities that are below the poverty line are not so
representative in the CDI Network as CDI demands them to be
an active part of the process, which is not common in the
communities that even has the main basics services.
What is the order of magnitude of the potential demand for your products or services? Which
other low-income groups, countries or regions could benefit from it? Try to quantify (number
of clients, market size in currency):
The main focus of the CDI's work is in the whole Brazilian state and in the Latin American and Africa countries. The CDI Network is presented nowadays in 19 Brazilian states (in the total of 26) and in other 08 countries (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and USA), which two of them are not focused in the ITCRSs work but are strategic for CDI (United States were chosen to be an office focused in fundraising and partnerships; Japan in receiving computers donations). So the magnitude of the potential demand of the CDI's work is the other Brazilian states that we don't have a CDI Regional Office (population estimated in 9.243.471 people in 2000) as well as the other countries in Latin American and Africa without the developing of CDI's work.
8) Scale-up strategy:
How many low-income individuals do you plan to benefit in three years from now? How are you planning to scale up or replicate your solution? What are the major constraints to scale up?
The new CDI's vision for 2005/2006 is the improvement in Quality of our services and strenghtness of the ITCRSs. With this, the scale up of the project is not anymore a goal of CDI and our expansion is planned to be gradually in the next years. Each CDI Regional Office is prepared to select and evaluate a proposal of opening an ITCRS, analysing if there is a possibility to keep and increase the number of our beneficiaries without decreasing the quality of the work that is being developed. The major constraint of the scale up is that the decision of opening an ITCRS affects directly the pedagogical team of the CDI Regional Office, overloading them, as they are responsible for periodic follows-up in loco to guarantee the quality and the continuity of CDI project. For the next three years, even continuing with the same number of schools we can estimate a minimum of 450.000 students.
Which specific areas - and why - in your field would benefit most from investment by corporations, foundations, and other investors:
As a non-profit and non-governamental organization, CDI depends on investments by corporations, foundations, agencies and other kinds of resources to maintain the CDI Headquarters structure and promote trainings, meetings and other kinds of help to the CDI Network. Closing a partnership for services in kind with an advocacy office, an accounting office or donations of computers are important for CDI maintaince too. All of this resources help the CDI Headquarters to develop and monitor the CDI Regional Offices as well as help them to strenghten their ITCRSs. One of the main goals of CDI nowadays is reaching 100% of ITCRSs connected to the Internet, facing geographical and financial difficulties.
9) The organization: How does the initiative fit with your overall organization's strategic goals and priorities? How did the initiative start?
In 1993, Rodrigo Baggio envisioned the use of computers over the Internet as a communication channel among young people belonging to different social groups. This idea originated a BBS (Bulletin Board System): a pioneer attempt to use information technology as a digital bridge to promote social integration. The service ended up reaching hundreds of users, but almost all the users came from upper class families. Then the challenge became to provide this technology to the low–income communities. The campaign "Information technology for all", first initiative of this kind in Brazil, was then created to raise computers, but since the communities were not used to this kind of technology, it comes the idea of creating the ITCRSs and afterwards the CDI, a pioneer initiative in the country, combining technology and citizens rights promotion, creating a new market segment.
-
10) On the mosaic diagram, which of these factors is the primary focus of your work?
- Factor: Limited purchasing power of individual clients
- Principle: Leverage the power of communities as both consumers and producers
Contact Information:
Name: Rodrigo Baggio - Executive Director and Isabel Fernandes - Head of Institutional Development Department
Organization: CDI - Committee for Democracy in Information Technology
Mailing address: Rua Alice 150 - Laranjeiras
Country: Brazil
Email: cdi@cdi.org.br
Tel: +55 21 3235-9450
Fax: +55 21 3235-9451
Website: www.cdi.org.br
Organization's legal status: Federal Charity Certificate
Number of Employees: 28
|
Return to Home Page