YPDO- About Us

The Youth Press and Development Organization of the YPDO is a non-governmental organization, which was initially established in Chililabombwe, Zambia in the year of 2003.  

YPDO together with it’s sister organisation Friends of YPDO Inc aims to empower its youth through education in information communication and also by encouraging them to inculcate good reading habits. The motivation behind this initiative was to provide the youth of Zambia, with a window of opportunity to familiarize and equip themselves with the ever-growing field of information technology. 

The target audience for our program includes vulnerable youth who have dropped out of school as well as secondary school graduates who have not had the fortuity to work on a computer.

Through both our initiatives, we also aim to spread awareness about HIV AIDS amongst our young and impressionable youth.

History

A team of young individuals started the organization in the copper belt of Zambia and its founder, Mr. Kebby T. Shampongo in Chililabombwe, leads the team.  

YPDO has been involved largely in two projects. They are as follows 

                                    i.        The Library: This program involves the collection of old used books as well as new donated books for our established library. Books are donated and collected from around the world, through our dedicated volunteers. They are then shipped to Zambia to help support our cause. The group accessing these books includes both school going students as well as non-school attending youth. This initiative has attracted about fifty children to our library on a regular basis.

                                  ii.        The Access Technology Project: In 2006, YPDO was donated eight computers by a volunteer. This helped YPDO pioneer its project in information communication technology. Aiming to educate Zambia’s youth in the realm of information technology and to bring them up to date with the rest of the world, YPDO started offering the following training programs.

§  Information Technology – Hardware: Educates the students on basic computer hardware specifications. Provides the student with underlying knowledge on computer hardware such as the system unit, the monitor, the mouse, the keyboard etc.

§  Computer Software: Trains the youth on different computer software such as: ubuntu, Linux, fedora, windows- 98, 2000, XP and vista. The youth are coached on programs such as word processors, spreadsheets, presentations, database, open office and Microsoft office.

§  The Internet- a glimpse into the world of www: Basic knowledge regarding websites, email, online research etc is imparter. The youth is also made aware about the social innovations on the Internet such as social interactions and networking. The children are also taught Blog formation and website designing.

The internet line we use is pre paid. Though we use phones to communicate the connectivity is not strong to view or download images with higher resolutions. 

This program has provided the students with a myriad of choices.  To enhance their skills, they are opting to write examinations with either the University of Zambia (an extension program) or enrolling for online international driving certification program from the UK.

Since it’s inception, the program has helped train 200 students in the various courses outlined above.