TCinGC is built around five key values: partnership, appropriate
expertise, capacity building, expanding vision, and sustainability.
The working relationship between the student consultant and the
development partner is designed to be mutually-beneficial. The development
partner needs to be a decision maker in a non-profit, NGO, school,
or government agency. This leader need not be ICT-savvy; in fact,
some have little or no computer literacy. Partnering with a student
consultant provides the personal support to progress in developing
an understanding of ICTs and integrating technology with the mission,
operations, and programs of the organization.
The development partner benefits by receiving technical assistance,
knowledge, training, and help tailored to the organization’s
requirements. A consulting report documenting the technical environment,
partnership accomplishments, and consultant recommendations for
sustaining and building on those accomplishments is also provided.
Typically, leaders use these reports for planning, informing other
stakeholders, and documenting the need for funding.
The student consultant benefits by having the opportunity to work
abroad with governmental and non-governmental leaders, by understanding
the challenges of local development, and by experiencing how ICTs
can be used to meet those challenges. Perhaps most importantly,
students benefit from knowing that their talents can be used not
only for their own economic gain, but for building our global community.
2. Appropriate Expertise
Each individual brings a particular expertise to the partnership.
While the computer science student is not necessarily an expert
in operating an employment education center, a local AIDS clinic,
or managing a government ministry, he or she is a budding expert
in the development, use, and management of ICT. The development
partner is an expert in the needs of the organization’s constituents
and clients, management and operations, and implementing the organization’s
mission. Significant capacity in the development partners’
organization is built through the union of both of these expertises.
3. Capacity Building
TCinGC does not take a project-development approach. Rather, the
first goal of the consulting partnership is to build the capacity
of the development partner and their organization to use, manage,
and plan for technology in support of its mission. Technology does
not come first; rather, it is the organization’s mission and
the problems that take precedence. Technology is an approach to
Building technical capacity involves better tools, but more important,
better insights for their application. As a result, the technical
aspect of any solution may be simple, but it is designed to address
significant needs in the community in a way that is sustainable.
This invariably leads to excitement on the part of the community
development partner and a motivation to continue to augment successes.
4. Expanding Vision
Once the development partner has embarked on a new path of learning
and using technology, an expanded vision for how ICTs can enhance
the organization’s mission grows naturally. The student consultant’s
final task is to help define the new vision that will support the
organization long after the partnership has concluded.
Finally, all ICT solutions must be implemented in a way that is
sustainable using the organization’s available resources.
A common example involves the development of tools for an organization
to manage information. A non-sustainable solution would be to design
and implement a sophisticated database. In this case, as the underlying
software changes and the needs of the organization change, the database
cannot be evolved with the resources at hand. A sustainable solution
would be the development of a simpler, more focused system only
as sophisticated as the development partner has resources to evolve.