Support Lance's Great North Run and help him to 'Feed the Tree'!!!

Peartree IT is a new charity based in Edinburgh. The organisation began as a response to the 2005 G8 summit and the "Make Poverty History" campaign. Our aim is to provide new opportunities to communities in developing countries through increasing their IT capacity. We believe that by expanding IT education and training we can empower individuals to access new knowledge and skills, and improve their employment prospects.

We are currently working with ICCES (Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills) in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. ICCES runs vocational training centres throughout Ghana that target young people aged between 14 and 24.

ICCES students come from rural communities, where for most this organisation provides them with their only opportunity to continue in education beyond junior high school, and gain training in employable skills.

ICCES has identified a need to update their syllabus to ensure that it remains relevant to the current job market in Ghana. Peartree IT is assisting ICCES in achieving this aim by providing computer training rooms, funding IT instructors and providing for ongoing technical maintenance and support. This will allow ICCES to deliver both basic computer training and more advanced courses relevant to existing vocational subjects.

To date we have supplied computer equipment to improve adminstration in the ICCES Regional Office. We are now pushing ahead with establishing the first computer training centre at Baworo ICCES centre. This will provide the model on which future centres will be based.

In future we plan to pursue a range of different projects working with schools, community groups and centres of higher education. We are also keen to promote links between IT and enterprise. See our Projects page for more information.

If you would like to get involved or would like to find out more about the Pear Tree Project please get in touch through our contact us page.