Digital Divide Data's Fundraiser:

For most young people in the developing world, university education and a professional job is a far-fetched dream. Digital Divide Data (DDD) creates better futures by making this a reality.  Each year DDD helps hundreds of disadvantaged youth in Asia and Africa to gain work experience, graduate from university and leave poverty for good.  

Your gift to DDD supports their scholarships.  Your contribution is matched by each student's tuition payment from their own income.  And if you give TODAY, the Skoll Foundation will also match your gift.

Satellite Internet Pros, a broadband internet service provider in the U.S., has launched an awareness campaign to bring facts about the Digital Divide to light. DDD is proud that SIP has chosen to partner with us in this campaign to engage more people in supporting our work to bridge these divides.

“Education is important for me, my family, and all people in the world. When we have knowledge and education, we can find jobs and good salaries for our family,” says Ul, a 23 year old employee of DDD Cambodia and a student at Cambodian Mekong University.

For disadvantaged youth like Ul, a college degree is the ticket to a better life. Without higher education, youth must settle for low-paying jobs in the informal economy.  For Ul, growing up in a poor family in the rural Oddar Meanchey province, the lack of opportunity was all too clear.  He finished primary school with only two students remaining in his class. "My classmates did not have money to go to school, which was also very far from their homes." But Ul was determined to find a better future. He completed secondary school and his motivation and skills secured him a job performing digital work at DDD.  With the earnings from his work, plus a partial scholarship from DDD, he is now in his third year of university, majoring in management.

Digital Divide Data is among the Top 100 NGOs in the world according to a 2013 ranking by the Global Journal, based on impact, sustainability and innovation.  DDD’s social enterprise provides education and employment for disadvantaged youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya using a sustainable business model called Impact Sourcing. This offers youth experience as data management operators (DMOs) in a professional business plus scholarship support for college. 

At DDD, scholarship support means more than just tuition. DDD offers career guidance and counseling to match students’ interests and passions to promising careers. We help youth decide what to study based on their aptitude and the local employment market--and we vet local universities to ensure youth enroll in high quality college programs. 

Since 2001, more than 600 youth have graduated from DDD’s program and moved on to successful careers in business, finance, governance, education--and the social sector. Today they earn an average salary that far exceeds the earnings of a typical college graduate in their country.  The first generation to go to college, they become not only breadwinners for their families, but also role models to their siblings and their community.

As for Ul, he wants “to be a manager to lead a company--and earn a good salary. I plan to build schools in rural areas in the province where English and computer will be taught to poor children,” he said.

Help us fulfill Ul’s dream and the dreams of youth in Cambodia, Laos and Kenya.

With your support DDD can help hundreds more youth graduate from university, find good jobs and leave poverty for good.  Please support DDD’s scholarship program today:

• $25 supports the monthly cost of a scholarship
• $150 supports an annual loan to a student
• $300 supports a full year scholarship
• $1200 supports a full four-year scholarship
• $2500 supports DDD's full cost to break the cycle of poverty for a family

Larger contributions help us grow our program to reach even more youth!

----------------

“The Confidence to Dream” is a collection of essays by youth in DDD's program in an easily downloadable ebook.  Read about their lives before and after DDD, as they share how DDD has changed their lives and those of their families.

The article, "Sourcing Change: Digital Work Building Bridges to Professional Life" in MIT's Innovations Journal shares our experience at DDD and the economic potential of Impact Sourcing as a “game-changer” for scaling skilled jobs among youth.