About the Computers in Homes (CIH) Project:

Mission & Key Goals of the CIH Project
How it works
Achievements and Benefits of CIH
Computers in Homes' News
CIH News Archive

How it works:

For a cost of $50 paid to their school, families receive free training; a recycled computer; 6 month's free Internet connection with full filtering and unlimited access and free technical support. The school receives a networked training pod of 7 computers and new printer to keep; free project management support from Computers In Homes; and collects the $50 family contributions to cover their incidental costs.

The original projects have been funded by the Ministry of Education's ICT in Schools because CIH builds on what the children already learn at school. Having a computer and the Internet at home means students can build on what they learn at school and research homework to produce results on a par with others.

The more pan-ministry Government Digital Strategy has awarded funding via its Community Partnership Fund to regional initiatives wishing to build on their CIH experience (4 regions in 2006-07 and 6 regions for 2007-08). This enables a more locally targeted and managed approach with support at national level from 2020 Communications Trust and CIH. The regional groups work with local schools to implement the CIH model and create their own blogs to keep families informed and provide a platform for feedback. Click here to see sample blogs for Gisborne, Wanganui and Eltham CIH projects.

All funding received has been project-specific, so CIH does not have pool funding for individual requests. However we do endeavour to put people in touch with other options via our relationship with Computer Access NZ (CANZ) and its accredited recyclers.

For further information on how CIH works and the different project formats currently operating in New Zealand - view our 'How CIH Works' PDF