Owerri Digital Village

YTF implements community-based technology programmes that they believe help youth develop a passion for technology and an understanding of how it can enhance their lives and improve their local communities. YTF starts with understanding the needs of the community and then focuses on how technology resources - adapted to cultural and social needs and access - can assist the community with its drive towards self-sustainability. The strategy involves providing villagers with skills at the YTF digital villages which they can then, hopefully, draw on to improve their lives and find employment.

The Owerri Digital Village (ODV) is operated by both local and international volunteers who work with students and the local community to develop an understanding of technology, how to use it, and how it can enhance their lives. Volunteers teach both the TechKids and the TechTeens programmes, which are designed to provide computer access to children and youth in that region. YTF also works with online volunteers based in the United Kingdom and in the United States that help with programmatic design and fundraising activities. It also solicits and involves local volunteer mentors, role models, and tutors in the Owerri vicinity.

ODV also offers young people access to need-based information, vocational skills and tools for fostering social awareness. For example, multimedia connected PCs, printers, scanners, educational software and books (related to global affairs, technology, entrepreneurship and education) are available for programme members' use at the centre. The centre has four classrooms, three administrative offices, one technology resource centre, a board room, and a seminar room. In addition, the centre has created an after school educational enrichment programme that complements the education provided by schools. According to YTF, it has contributed to greater numbers of disadvantaged youth graduating from secondary schools and enrolling in universities, with a substantial number pursuing careers in science, business, technology or engineering. It has also promoted rural community development by providing technical, educational and entrepreneurial skills training to disadvantaged individuals in an effort to create social and economic opportunities.

The organisers report that ODV has transformed the lives of those in the local community and schools. It has provided internet, telephone, and fax services that are being utilised to conduct local business activities and enhance teacher training. According to organisers, computer training has provided jobs for the youth, who now have access to a resource centre with books and journals on technology and entrepreneurship.

Technology, Youth, Economic Development.

According to organisers, Owerri is a rural town in south-eastern Nigeria with little electricity, very limited Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and prior to the establishment of this centre, no digital phone lines. It is about 600 km from the former capital, Lagos State and is home to approximately 600,000 people - most of whom are of Ibo descent and are predominantly farmers or traders. Organisers point out, the south-eastern region of Nigeria is evidently under served as a result of the Biafran War (1967-1970) where up to 2 million Biafran civilians, especially children, lost their lives to malnutrition and died from starvation during the war.

By the end of 2008, over 12,000 youth from 10 schools had participated in and have completed Youth for Technology programmes designed to educate and inspire young people.

Established in 2000, YTF is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to teaching youth about their communities and the world through the use of technology, and providing basic computer skills and expanding upon those skills for potential use in the workplace as well as in their communities.