Options for paying OLPC and other IT services for poor countries
This post that appeared in OLPCnews brings an idea that I discussed in the past with some colleagues: how to pay for IT services for poor countries.
Basically is about selling the services and products at a slightly higher price. Maybe paying one or two extra dollars is not a big deal for a customer in a developed country, more if the companies present their products with a distinctive mark that encourage conscious users to buy them: a kind of “Fairtrade” for IT services and products. The numbers and deadlines won’t be spectacular, but could be an alternative real solution.
This is not a new idea. Even here we talked about the air-ticket tax. Anyway, it could work.
August 16, 2006 at 1:12 pm
I’d love to see a “goodwill mark-up” option at Best Buy or Dell – say $1 for ICT in the developing world. Of course the admin of that money would be the challenege – which projects get it and don’t would be a source of endless controversey.
September 6, 2006 at 9:42 am
Wayan,
Certainly the administration will be a big challenge. Perhaps part of the money could go to own company initiatives (like VIA PC-1) and the rest to a common fund managed by ITU-D. Of course the later action should allow contributors to participate in the decision on how to use this fund.
April 29, 2007 at 8:53 pm
[...] a previous post I talk about the idea of a kind of a Fair IT trade (people in developed countries paying a bit [...]
July 3, 2007 at 2:17 am
[...] Aclaro que estoy a favor del comercio justo, incluso como una posible fuente de financiación para paliar la brecha digital. [...]