The lives of young people living in remote villages across Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia are set to be transformed by digital technology thanks to AKP United Kingdom.

Following the rollout of new devices across A&K offices in London and Cheltenham and donations from staff, more than 80 computers were donated to the ITSA Digital Trust, which is helping reduce the digital divide in a responsible, environmentally and socially conscious way.

This transformation was facilitated by A&K UK’s IT department, led by Malcolm Baron and Alex Rosen in London and Nyall Monkton in Cheltenham.

“It’s great to work with charitable organizations doing small things that have a big impact in communities in Africa, especially to be able to contribute to regions in which A&K has a strong presence,” said Baron, A&K IT director. “ITSA Digital Trust can provide us full certification of data destruction, which ticks all our compliance boxes, while then giving the hardware a second lease of life.”

The donations included laptops with chargers, desktops with power leads, wired keyboards and mice less than six years old. After wiping the data and refreshing the devices for reuse, the Cheltenham-based charity will ship them out to partners on the ground in Africa.

With 34% of the total global population still offline according to The International Telecommunication Union, AKP is proud to work with ITSA to help reduce this digital divide.

“Our approach is uniquely holistic; we encourage the reuse of computer equipment, which we refurbish for our programs in Africa to improve skills and confidence in technology. Our vision is for people to gain life-enhancing knowledge and skills through accessing and using appropriate digital technology,” said a spokesman for ITSA Digital Trust.