Tutu desk campaign brings portable lapdesks to school children

Tutudesk is an innovative social enterprise that aims to address the challenge faced by 95 million children in Sub-Sahara Africa (more than 2 million in Ghana) who do not have access to a classroom desk.

This shortage negatively affects the development of children’s literacy and their overall academic performance, as well as their ability to concentrate in class. In support of this initiative, The Desmond Tutu Tutudesk Campaign Centre aims to supply 20 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa with a Tutudesk by 2015.

The Tutudesk, formerly known as The Lapdesk, is a portable writing surface that the child owns. It is lightweight, durable and is carried to and from school daily, extending the learning environment from the school into the home. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa is Patron of the Tutudesk Campaign. He is quoted as saying “I was a barefoot township urchin. I went to school where there were no desks. We sat on benches and when the teacher asked us to write, we knelt down on the floor and used benches we had been sitting on as desks… I wish such an aid had been available in my day!”

Tutudesks are funded through sponsorship. In return for funding, sponsors can print their social or brand messaging on one side of the Tutudesk. For companies, this messaging could be part of an advertising campaign or a corporate social responsibility initiative. This enables businesses to advertise their brands and at the same time support a worthy cause. Tutudesk is a unique access mechanism to bottom-of-the-pyramid customers, especially with the lack of formal media infrastructure in many rural parts of Ghana where Tutudesk are deployed.

The sponsorship process is very simple and transparent. The campaign understands the need for sponsors’ investment to be measurable, cost effective, high impact and relevant. As such, the campaign centre provides sponsors with everything from design services to logistics planning as inclusive parts of its pricing schedule. The Tutudesk directly supports the following Millennium Development Goals adopted by world leaders at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000:

• Achieve Universal Primary Education
• Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Beyond that, the printed messaging on the Tutudesk can support the following:

• Combat HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure Environmental Sustainability
• Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Tutudesk Campaign Centres have been established in several countries and over 1.3 million children have already been assisted across 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as follows: South Africa, Angola, Cameroon , Dem. Rep of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This is a critical step in the right direction of taking Africa into a new developmental era – It is a uniquely African innovation for an African challenge!

Equipping tomorrow’s generation with the right equipment today is imperative for all children to achieve their potential.

For sponsorship, please contact The Desmond Tutu Desk Campaign Center by calling 024-709-3081 or 020-261-8190. You may also visit our website www.tutudesk.org for more information.