Zynga’s FarmVille Internet gamers have donated $487,500 to Haiti via virtual goods

The 56 million gamers of Zynga’s most popular Internet game, FarmVille, have donated $487,500 for children in Haiti in the past three weeks through the program “Sweet Seeds for Haiti”.

It is an effort from Zynga to promote what it calls “social goods.”

Zynga's online gamers can purchase virtual items as part of the game play within the FarmVille game, where players buy and sell virtual goods as they tend their own virtual farms.

With this program, Internet gamers can buy items that lead directly to donations. In the game, players tend to their farms by purchasing harvesting equipment such as tractors and combines. With Sweet Seeds, users buy sweet potato seeds with their virtual currency, which they earn in the game or pay for with real money.

About 50% of the proceeds are donated to NGOs in Haiti, like Fatem.org and Fonkoze.org.

Jacky Poteau, president of Fatem, said that Zynga’s donations have made it possible for more than 500 children to have access to quality education and lift their families from poverty.

To read the complete article on VentureBeat.com click on this link

Uruguay, first country to provide a laptop to all primary school children

Uruguay has joined the very small number of nations, if not the First, providing a laptop for every child attending state primary school.

Over the last two years 362,000 children and 18,000 teachers have been involved in the project.

The "Plan Ceibal" (Education Connect) project has allowed many families access to the world of computers and the internet for the first time.

The project has cost the state $260 per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, training for the teachers and internet connection. This represents less than 5% of the country's education budget.

This project seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and the world of knowledge.

Haiti

In Haiti the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) has teamed up with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2008 to distribute 13,200 laptop to Haitian children and 500 teachers in 60 Haitian primary schools.

The pilot project in Haiti will assess how a child-centered learning technology can be used to bridge problems such as the shortage of qualified teachers and educating children of different grades in the same classroom. Another major priority for the Haitian government is speeding up the learning process for students who enter school late or repeat grades.

Anyone have recent info on the progress of the project in Haiti? We will be glad to hear from you!

To read the complete article on Uruguay from BBC.co.uk click on this link

For more information on the OLPC project in Haiti click on this link