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Good practice Imported

The Turing Trust — Refurbished Computers & Offline E-Libraries for Malawi's Secondary Schools

Malawi · Mzuzu · See the Malawi profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 24% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

UK charity The Turing Trust refurbishes donated computers with offline e-libraries for Malawi's schools. In its Northern Region, IT-lab access rose from 5% of schools in 2016 to 81% today, alongside teacher training and solar-powered rural classrooms.

5 %
Secondary schools with computer access (Malawi, national) (2016)
81 %
Secondary schools with IT-lab access (Northern Region)
20 %
Increase in university attendance at partner schools after IT teaching began
39 %
Average earnings premium for IT-skilled graduates
67
Teachers trained in one documented cohort
30+
Teachers able to independently deliver practical IT lessons
20
Refurbished PCs per partner school (typical)
The Turing Trust — Refurbished Computers & Offline E-Libraries for Malawi's Secondary Schools

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
The Turing Trust (with Computers for Enhanced Education)
Period
2015-present
Keywords
education, e-waste reuse, digital skills, teacher training

Context

The Turing Trust is a UK charity, founded in memory of Alan Turing, that reuses computers destined for landfill from corporate and institutional donors. Machines are wiped, refurbished and shipped to under-resourced schools in sub-Saharan Africa pre-loaded with offline e-library software, so students can access educational content without paying for internet connectivity.

Objectives

Its largest programme aims to expand IT-lab access in Malawi's secondary schools and to work around rural electrification gaps that would otherwise block computer use.

Activities

Work began in 2015-16 in Malawi's Northern Region in partnership with the Centre for Youth and Development in Mzuzu, later formalised as the local organisation Computers for Enhanced Education (CEE). The programme has since expanded into the Central and Southern regions, with a Lilongwe office opened in 2020 and a third office planned for Blantyre; each partner school typically receives around 20 refurbished PCs. To work around rural electrification gaps, the Trust has also built solar-powered IT classrooms from repurposed shipping containers running low-energy Raspberry Pi computers, and has trained local teachers to deliver IT lessons independently.

Results

In 2016, only about 5% of Malawian secondary schools had any computer access nationally; in the Northern Region, where the Trust has worked longest, 81% of secondary schools now have IT-lab access. Partner schools reported a 20% increase in university attendance after IT teaching began, and the Trust cites labour-market data suggesting IT-skilled graduates earn roughly 39% more on average. One documented cohort trained 67 local teachers, of whom more than 30 became able to independently deliver practical IT lessons.

Conclusions

Most published figures originate from the Turing Trust's own reporting rather than an independent third-party evaluation, and no publicly available randomised or quasi-experimental impact study was found, so these results should be read as programme-reported outcomes rather than causally verified impact.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — No budget figures disclosed; the refurbished-device model reduces hardware costs relative to new equipment, with additional costs for shipping, regional offices and teacher training.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Programme began in the Northern Region in 2015-16 and has expanded over roughly a decade to the Central and Southern regions, with continuing office openings (Lilongwe 2020, Blantyre planned).
Staffing & skills
The Turing Trust (UK charity) headquarters staff, Local implementing partner Computers for Enhanced Education (CEE), formalised from the Centre for Youth and Development in Mzuzu, Regional offices in Lilongwe (opened 2020) and planned in Blantyre, Local teachers trained to deliver IT lessons independently (67 in one documented cohort, 30+ delivering independently)

Conditions for success

  • Formalising the local partner as an independent organisation (CEE) rather than relying solely on the UK charity
  • Pairing hardware donation with structured teacher training so lessons continue independently
  • Solar-powered, shipping-container classrooms and low-energy Raspberry Pi computers to work around rural electrification gaps
  • Standard hardware provision of around 20 refurbished PCs per partner school

Common failure modes

  • Programme-reported figures are not independently verified by a third-party randomised or quasi-experimental study
  • Model depends on a continuing supply of donated corporate/institutional e-waste

Where it fits

Governance type
UK charity with local NGO implementing partner
Scale
national (Malawi), expanding across Northern, Central and Southern regions
Income level
low-income

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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