As someone who works in IT in Africa, i'd say a couple of things. Firstly, two months is a minimum! the biggest issues you are likely to face are cultural barriers and your own high expectations. It takes time, lots of time, to get past these. Hence three months is a good start, but try not to go for less than two months. Otherwise you'll be more of a hindrance than help.
If there's an African country you've visited before, going back could be good as you will already have some understanding of the culture in that country.
You were asking if geek skills can be used, and that's definitely the case. The state of IT in the content, with exceptions, is rubbish. How to use your skills is a lot harder and I don't know if I have an answer to that but perhaps some comments to make.
As many other people have said above, capacity building should underlay any attempt at assistance, and working with someone to train them up is a good way of doing this. The other catch phrase is 'sustainability' and this can mean different things at different times. However, make sure that whatever you do can still live on after you leave. Building a PostgreSQL database isn't much use if you're the only person at the NGO/community that you're working with that knows how to use it.
Please don't take this as discouragement: go for your life, but make sure what you end up doing is beneficial to the community as well as you: there's no doubt that you'll get something out of it. Just make sure they do too.
Avoid voluntourism organisations.
And avoid the idea of taking used PC equipment from the developed world over there: you're just screwing the local IT shop by doing that.
So much more to say, but I think they're the big things.
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As someone who works in IT in Africa, i'd say a couple of things. Firstly, two months is a minimum! the biggest issues you are likely to face are cultural barriers and your own high expectations. It takes time, lots of time, to get past these. Hence three months is a good start, but try not to go for less than two months. Otherwise you'll be more of a hindrance than help. If there's an African country you've visited before, going back could be good as you will already have some understanding of the culture in that country. You were asking if geek skills can be used, and that's definitely the case. The state of IT in the content, with exceptions, is rubbish. How to use your skills is a lot harder and I don't know if I have an answer to that but perhaps some comments to make. As many other people have said above, capacity building should underlay any attempt at assistance, and working with someone to train them up is a good way of doing this. The other catch phrase is 'sustainability' and this can mean different things at different times. However, make sure that whatever you do can still live on after you leave. Building a PostgreSQL database isn't much use if you're the only person at the NGO/community that you're working with that knows how to use it. Please don't take this as discouragement: go for your life, but make sure what you end up doing is beneficial to the community as well as you: there's no doubt that you'll get something out of it. Just make sure they do too. Avoid voluntourism organisations. And avoid the idea of taking used PC equipment from the developed world over there: you're just screwing the local IT shop by doing that. So much more to say, but I think they're the big things.