I am a volunteer at PUM (www.pum.nl). As an IT expert with an educational background, I help schools and companies in developing countries (if you can still call it that) that want to make a difference.
Who am I targeting?
According to PUM policy, I work with small organisations (20–80 employees) that have been around for several years. My goal is to grow and strengthen the local ecosystem through cooperation between companies and educational institutions.
How I help
Improving learning methods, curriculum structure and further digitization
Optimizing business strategy: Analyzing processes and creating a roadmap for sustainable growth, including IT budgeting and change management
Implementing new IT systems: From selection and configuration of ERP and CRM solutions to network and cybersecurity strategies that fit local capabilities.
The purpose of this trip is to help a team of teachers at a secondary school (Arban) who provide IT training, to improve their lessons. Think of: teaching method and the use of IT resources. But also looking at how the training meets the needs of companies where the students will work.
North of the capital, 180 kilometers (5 hours drive).
Eventually expanded to adapt the curriculum design with digitization. And a lot of attention to the socialaspect:
To get a job, employers don't just look at your CV, but especially at social skills. And that's where the problem lies for this school. The majority of the students come from disadvantaged situations – think of children from remote villages whose parents are farmers or farm workers. They do get laptops and learn technical skills, but lack something essential. Children from families where parents work in the office have a huge advantage: at home they discuss, explain, and get help with job applications. Students whose father works on the land do not know that communication. The only help is often to be prayed for. The girls in particular are modest and not used to standing up for themselves or discussing.
That is why the recommendations are about developing social skills in the classroom. Through joint exercises and job application training, we can ensure that good students with technical knowledge also get a fair chance at a job.
ECS company (purchasing/selling of cooling and heating equipment and production of parts) ECS of the heatcool creative company algiers has grown with more and more parts. As a result, management no longer had control and the request came to help with the implementation of an ERP system.
But the core is that you can't introduce a new system if you don't yet know how to set up your organization. So it's about processes, good measurements and reports (KPIs) and motivated employees. The new system should help.
Took the management from Critical Success Factors, to KPIs within clear procedures, drew up the information needs based on that and set up ERPNext as an open source system. In addition, we also set up the financial system, both at corporate level and at the business units. This allows for further, controlled growth.
In terms of IT, I was impressed by the possibilities offered by the open source package ERPNext. So much so that I started experimenting with it myself.
Follow-up project for Arban (from June 2025), but now to jointly determine the organization's strategy and draw up a multi-year plan. Now especially in Dhaka where government and NGO (stakeholders) are located. Weekly remote meeting in advance in which we discuss the strategy,
ARBAN has implemented a strategic restructuring to better align the organization with the needs of the market and society. The new structure consists of five pillars: Formal Government Education, IT Skills Development, Craftsmanship Development, SDG-related projects and a Media Center that functions as a news platform and knowledge source. This redesign is supported by a strengthened IT foundation, focused on digital self-development and the implementation of a new ERP system to optimize business operations.
In addition, a central Knowledge Hub is being developed as a reliable, integrated source of information. This hub makes it possible to bundle data from all pillars, significantly improving decision-making, reporting and transparency. In parallel, ARBAN has strengthened its branding and online visibility, resulting in a more cohesive identity and a more professional digital presence.
The existing Beautification programme has been expanded to include entrepreneurial elements to increase students' employment opportunities, market access and self-reliance. Finally, ARBAN has decided to actively use artificial intelligence for writing proposals and other communication tasks. By harnessing the power of AI through targeted prompting, the need for external consultancy has been eliminated, while the quality and effectiveness of proposals for government and NGO assignments has increased.
Aremote project to help Enervida, a company that sells solar panels and related equipment. In the supply of equipment, they must instruct the users. This is now only done on location, but it takes a lot of time.
The intention is also to offer training courses remotely, online.
I made my IT environment a basic setup of that course.
From one broken Windows XP machine to a fully digitally equipped school — that is the result of my PUM expert mission to a primary school in Eastern Uganda. Thanks to two donated laptops from Conflux, teachers are now learning to work with word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphic design, AI tools, and even video editing to record their own lessons. The entire environment is open source: Linux Mint, LibreOffice, GIMP, Scribus and Shotcut — affordable, sustainable and fully tailored to the local situation on a tight budget.
After preparation via recorded instructional videos, two weeks followed on location near Kampala. The commitment of the teachers exceeded all expectations: within one week they independently recorded lessons and edited them immediately. Halfway through the mission, the internet was added, which enabled file exchange between laptops and Android smartphones via a local network app. A great proof that digital autonomy is really feasible even with limited resources.