Computers

BAHIA, Brazil—Is it a tool to catch fish or a nickname for the Internet? In this small fishing community, the answer is decidedly both.

In Bahia, the word “net” refers to a combination of digital technologies that is improving the local fishing industry and making life better for about 200 families in Santa Cruz Cabrália—a municipality best known as the place where the explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral landed in the 16th century.

Through partners of USAID’s Limited Excess Property Program, excess computer equipment is used to provide training to local students in both El Salvador and Nicaragua. Under the LEPP program, private voluntary organizations, such as Food for the Poor, receive excess government property for use in their overseas programs. This property serves to build the capacity and the speed and efficiency of local in-country partners, including schools, hospitals and training facilities.