Youth For Technology Foundation (YTF) To Receive Donation of Mobile Phones From Australia
Louisville, KY – July 20, 2010 – Youth For Technology Foundation (YTF), an international non-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurship, education and technology in low-income and rural communities in the U.S. and Africa, is about to receive a donation of mobile phones to benefit its Yes, Youth Can! program. Yes, Youth Can! adopts a non-partisan, grassroots approach to overcoming the marginalization of youth in the political process by encouraging a personal commitment to and a vision for democracy. “Young people in Africa have suffered the most from violent conflict, particularly during election periods, and their role in bringing and sustaining democracy on the continent cannot be overemphasized,” said Njideka Harry, YTF’s Executive Director.”
The phones are being collected by students at Bond University in Robina, Australia. The mobile phone donation program has been named Phones for Change.
The group of students, led by Susan Garpensund and Myles Gunter, highlight a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that estimates 14-16 million unused, but functioning, phones in Australia. According to the students’ own market research, about a third of Bond University students have more than one mobile phone. The group will target Bond University and Robina State High School faculty and students. Phones for Change has obtained funding from another on-campus group, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) to cover logistics and shipping of the phones to YTF.
YTF’s Yes, Youth Can! beneficiaries will use the phones to increase their political participation by disseminating and receiving pre and post-election related information, via text messaging, and by organizing action-based civic events like peaceful rallies and radio shows.
About Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) – YTF is an international non-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurship, education and technology in low-income and rural communities in the U.S. and Africa. YTF pioneered the Digital Village ‘movement’ in West Africa. Digital Villages are community technology and learning centers that serve as information hubs where community members gather to learn and share tools, resources and information.
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For more information, please visit the YTF online at http://www.youthfortechnology.org or contact YTF’s Yes, Youth Can! Program Manager, Ezekiel Nworie at ezekiel@youthfortechnology.org.
