Window of Opportunity Initiative
At One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Australia, we believe that:
We have a window of opportunity to change the lives of over 400,000 children living in remote communities, who are isolated from the opportunities many of us take for granted. These children lack opportunity, not a capacity to learn.
As Australians we have a window of opportunity to enact change, not only in the lives of remote children, but also in how we interact with remote communities, steeped in rich and diverse culture.
The XO provides a window for all Australians to witness the ways in which others live and learn.
To capture this, we created the Window of Opportunity Initiative to invite corporations and philanthropic foundations to play a role in saturating remote communities with XO laptops - and at the same time empower city children to share in the experience with their remote peers.
There are four available levels of commitment*:
*Figures are indicative only
Representatives from the donor organisation are able to join us at the deployment and directly participate in XO handover ceremonies. The donor organisation also has the opportunity to facilitate the introduction between the remote school and a city school which paves the way for children from the city to become young advocates for change in Australia, and drive their own fundraising efforts. This effort will ensure successful deployments, and open the gateway for communication with their remote peers.
An example of how this initiative works
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is an example of an organisation that funded the deployment of XO laptops to Australia's most remote community, Kiwirrkurra, W.A., with the assistance of Roseville College, Sydney.
Thanks to CBA's involvement, Kiwirrkurra and Roseville College can now engage in an exchange that will provide rich cross-cultural learning for the students.
| 6 October - CBA runs OLPC Australia Offsite Module and raises enough money to saturate a school |
| 14 October - Principals from Roseville and Kiwirrkurra make contact |
| 19-21 October - Two CBA employees join OLPC Australia at the Kiwirrkurra Deployment, organising handover ceremony and documenting the deployment |
| 26 October - Roseville College holds school assembly and OLPC Australia/CBA present the community with photos and video footage from the deployment that their efforts assisted |
By giving a child access to education, you are opening their window of opportunity.
If you would like to be involved please contact OLPC Australia on:
e: judy@laptop.org.au e: penny@laptop.org.au e: kelly@laptop.org.au
The Window of Opportunity Initiative is supported by:
