ITSA was established in 2004 to accelerate education in Africa with a vision to address the problem of textbook shortages in African schools. Donating computers to schools allows teachers to download curriculum material free of charge, providing children with greater access to learning.

Operations started the following year with the renovation of a warehouse in Cheltenham, where used computers are collected, refurbished and packed before shipping to Africa.

ITSA works in partnership with CFAS (Computers for African Schools) and their joint ITSA-CFAS programme is making a major difference in some of the poorest countries in Africa, so far providing over 940,000 children with access to IT technology.

ITSAs goal is to provide IT Education for 4.5 million children by the end of 2010

What sets the ITSA-CFAS programme apart from other UK organisations sending recycled computers to Africa is that it donates the computers free of charge and takes a uniquely holistic approach. In the UK, the programme supports the local community – working with prisons, the unemployed and schools - to refurbish computers, clean them of data and prepare them for shipping. In Africa, the programme delivers IT teaching training and technical support to all recipient schools and deals with final disposal of computers in an environmentally friendly way. In conjunction with VSO, the programme also incorporates AIDS and other health awareness programmes into its school training and software packages.

With country programmes in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, where computers are donated free to all state secondary schools, the ITSA-CFAS programme has sent over 12,000 computers to more than 850 African schools, setting up computer labs in each. The programme also links African schools with UK schools for shared learning programmes and cross-cultural communication. In addition to the ITSA-CFAS programme, ITSA also supplies computers to various schools & communities in countries like Kenya, Ghana & South Africa.