April 6, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Global Technology Corps brings together technologically savvy volunteers and corporate contributions to tackle technology projects overseas.
A program of the State Department, the corps began operating a year ago. Its first project was to set up Internet access in refugee camps in six countries during the Kosovo crisis and to develop a database that would help refugees locate information about their family members in other camps.
Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, and Hewlett-Packard were among the companies to provide contributions to the Kosovo project, which also received support from the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation and the Waitt Family Foundation.
The scale of the Kosovo project was an exception for the Global Technology Corps. Since then, it has focused on short-term efforts that either have the potential to be reproduced on a larger scale or that help host countries build local institutions.
Volunteers have conducted workshops in Poland on the uses of technology in emergency planning and disaster relief, helped universities in Nigeria plan computer labs with Internet access, and built a local-area network to connect schools and the Ministry of Education in St. Lucia.
Jeff Moon, team leader for the corps, compares its operations to the companies that it often works with. “I like to look at the Global Technology Corps as the closest that you can get to an Internet start-up in the government.”
To get there: Go to http://www.globaltechcorps.org.
