In a world where digital skills are increasingly crucial, too many young people are still left without laptops. Digital for Youth, a Belgian non-profit organization, is tackling this problem by breathing new life into used IT equipment .
With a strong focus on social and environmental impact, the organization collects thousands of devices each year to help young people. During an interview with Hans De Backer and Barbara De Weyer of Digital for Youth, the scope, goals and challenges of their work were discussed.
Young people are digitally vulnerable
We often don’t think about how many young people cannot afford a laptop for high school, higher education or a job. “Twenty percent of children live in poverty, and 40 percent of Belgians are digitally vulnerable,” De Weyer emphasizes. “That’s why we are making sure that schools are starting to think more and more circularly. We offer a ten percent discount to schools if they give us their old devices,” De Backer continues.
The organization therefore works closely with several Flemish government agencies. “The Flemish government is one of our largest donors, accounting for ten percent of everything we take in,” he said. “In addition, police districts, municipalities and other entities regularly donate devices.”
From 9,000 to 23,000 aircraft
De Weyer is in charge of hardware collection and looks back on the growth of the organization, “We collected about 23,000 devices this year, half of which were laptops and the other half other equipment. Last year it was 14,000, and the year before it was 9,000. So we have the wind at our back, thanks in part to the EU Corporate Social Responsibility Directive.” These devices come from more than 350 companies and government organizations, including big names such as Fluvius, Bpost and HP.
“Most donors continue to contact us faithfully every year,” says De Weyer. “The positive response from IT and CSR managers shows that the collaboration is appreciated.”
Donations from partners
“Bpost donated eleven thousand devices this year, including three thousand HP laptops. That’s fantastically nice,” De Weyer continued. This collaboration shows how companies can contribute both socially and environmentally.
Our dream is for every young person to have access to a laptop
Hans De Backer, Digital for Youth
Digital for Youth works closely with HP. “The collaboration began when HP chose us as a personal project. Since then it has become an important partner. HP was quick to bet on sustainability, so that’s where we find each other,” De Weyer clarified.
Social and environmental impact
The core of Digital for Youth lies in its dual impact. “We ensure that young people can digitize: we provide laptops for homework, help with CVs, and teach them to code through schools and youth organizations. At the same time, partner organizations contribute to the circular economy. A laptop that lasts another four years or even longer makes a huge ecological impact,” De Weyer said.
However, not all appliances collected are suitable for reuse. De Backer: “We only give devices to young people that are grade A, B and C+. These are then, for example, the best HP devices from the business EliteBook series. Other refurbished devices are resold to finance our operations. We are transparent about that, too.” This model ensures that the organization remains financially sustainable while making a solid impact.
Transparency and impact reports
Digital for Youth is strongly committed to transparency. “The first report Barbara returns to each donor is the asset overview, with serial numbers and grading,” explains De Backer. “In addition, companies receive comprehensive impact reports. We give a social-impact report, an ecological-impact report, an asset overview, a certificate of data wiping and destruction.”
These reports help companies meet and communicate their sustainability goals. It also helps that Digital For Youth is a one-stop service. That is, it does everything from logistics to refurbishing and mining minerals from the devices with their technical partner Circular-IT.
Digital for Youth collects not only laptops, but also smartphones and other IT equipment, such as servers, monitors, printers, cables and accessories. “We collect everything to maximize the ecological impact,” says De Backer. This broad collection policy helps process harmful materials safely, minimize waste and extract raw materials. “This way we contribute to the European Green Deal, and appliances stay usable longer thanks to legislations like the Repairability Directive.”
In addition to current initiatives, Digital for Youth continues to innovate with new projects. For example, it recently launched AI for You: a project to introduce young people to artificial intelligence. De Weyer continues, “Also in AI, there is a gap between people who have access to it and those who don’t, and it’s only getting bigger. We do respond to that with partners like HP, and can only make sure that that gap gets smaller and smaller.”
Digital for Youth hopes to help more and more young people and organizations operate circularly in the coming years. So their mission is abundantly clear: “Our dream is for every young person to have access to a laptop.”