“There is a need to bridge the digital divide of underprivileged children,” — says ACT Foundation CMR
The NGO that trains orphans with digital skills in Cameroon.
The number of out-of-school children in Africa is alarming. As the continent with the highest population of young people and is predicted to become the most populous in the next few decades, Africa has many gaps to fill. However, these gaps can only be filled by the combined efforts of governments, institutions, organizations, and individuals. One such organization is ACT Foundation.
ACT Foundation is a nonprofit aimed at empowering underprivileged and out-of-school children in Cameroon with digital skills to enable them to integrate into society and thrive as self-reliant adults. The ACT Foundation team works towards connecting poor and talented children in underserved communities to scholarship and grant opportunities.
The foundation was founded in 2022 by Aben Cistus Tita (also called ACT), a petroleum engineer and scholar of Covenant University. Growing up as an orphan himself, Aben Cistus noticed that though there was always an influx of food and clothes into the orphanage homes, there was a lack of provisions for equipment and skill sets that underprivileged children needed to grow in a world abreast with technology. He then made it his mission to fill this gap, eponymously calling the nonprofit ACT foundation.
“The truth is vulnerable children in underserved communities cannot use computers, the internet, and related technologies such as smartphones and tablets efficiently to solve problems because of little or no access to such devices. Children in orphanages are not an exception, and some orphanages with computers lack trained and qualified personnel to tutor the children. Thus, there is a need to bridge this digital divide and equip these children, especially orphans, with lifelong skills that would be beneficial even after they depart from orphanages and/or foster homes.” said Cistus
ACT Foundation sets up computer labs and hubs in orphanages and trains underprivileged children in ICT packages such as using Microsoft Office Suite, video editing, graphics design, internet usage, and many more technological skills. They also host vocational workshops in tailoring, musical instruments, and dancing.
Like Cistus, most of the foundation’s volunteers are scholarship awardees. In addition to the educational training, they also provide the children with resources to access scholarships, grants, and internship opportunities.
According to Cistus, the foundation has a monitoring system to measure and track the children’s progress. “We have successfully conducted training and outreaches in three orphanage homes in three major regions of Cameroon, where we impacted over 150 children. Our excitement is to see orphans effectively build tech skills that would translate to a greener future,” he said.
Setting up computer centers in orphanage homes is a capital-intensive activity. Hence, foundation volunteers have to train the children with their computers when they visit an orphanage for the first time. More computer systems to donate to orphanage homes will be an added advantage. The need for more equipment and volunteers to train children are some of the challenges the foundation faces, Cistus recounted.
Despite these challenges, ACT foundation plans to expand its impactful work by training up to 2000 children in digital and vocational skills in 2023.
“By 2024, we plan to cover the ten regions of Cameroon, where we would have directly impacted 10,000 children and have expanded to other African countries by 2025,” said Cistus.
