Projects

The main objective of Close the Gap is to assist in developing local knowledge, putting local talent and potential to use and empowering communities through the access to data.

Fundamentally, Close the Gap does not offer direct aid to projects, but rather provides tools which can be put to good use and which can enhance the further growth of a community in a developing country. Hence ICT should trigger social and economic development as it embraces enormous potential to accelerate growth in efficiency and accessibility.

The strength and success of Close the Gap lays in its ever innovative approach making sure that that projects are directed to the people in need in developing countries. Sustainability and quality of the supported projects remain the main criteria to be respected in this area.

In order for a project to be accepted by Close the Gap’s project management, visible and clearly established direction is essential and basic infrastructure, training, support and maintenance needs to be at hand. Furthermore agreements with local governments must be in place. Yet, this does not limit the scale of the projects Close the Gap participates in – from three computer going to a project in Burkina Faso to 500 computers to a micro financing project in Cameroon.

The vision of Close the Gap is that reducing the digital divide is an important step towards a higher living standard in developing countries, enabling young people to fully explore their talents.

Within its project management Close the Gap makes a distinction between infrastructural and charitable missions:

Infrastructural Missions
IT infrastructural missions can receive cost-efficient IT-solutions when collaborating with Close the Gap. The equipment is primarily and purely meant to install computer systems for educational, social, medical, good governance and civil society projects. Close the Gap installs the computers and gives follow-up to the projects on a regular basis to keep the IT-systems up-to-date.

Charitable Missions
IT Charitable missions are similar to IT infrastructural missions but besides sending and installing IT hard- and software, Close the Gap also supports charitable organisations by means of communications, logistics expertise or financial resources.