Every electronic system that keeps the world running deserves care.
Care First, Replace Later, Mine Last
The Electronics Lifecycle Care Alliance (ELCA) is a global advisory, policy and standards body for the people and organisations who test, diagnose, repair, refurbish, reuse and responsibly recover electronics. We work to keep critical equipment in safe service for longer and to make lifecycle care a recognised profession.
Keep value high on the ladder
Every failed unit gets an engineering decision at each step. The higher it stays, the more function, embodied energy and skilled work are kept. Urban mining matters, and it comes last.
Five pillars of work
One alliance for the whole care value chain
Lifecycle care only works when every actor plays their part, from the manufacturer who designs for repair to the urban miner who recovers the last gram of metal.
Care or replace? A first assessment
Answer five questions about a failed unit and see where it belongs on the care hierarchy. It is a teaching tool built on the Alliance's decision principles, not a substitute for a qualified engineer's assessment.
Help write the first global standards for electronics care
Founding membership is open to professionals, care centres, manufacturers, operators, institutions and regulators in every region.
A home for the profession that keeps electronics alive
Electronic equipment now carries every essential service: communications, power, health, finance, industry, transport, security and defence. When it fails, too much of it is replaced or scrapped years before the end of its useful life, because diagnosis, spares, skills, standards and finance are missing.
ELCA exists to close that care gap. We are an independent alliance, founded in Nairobi in 2026, with a global mandate. We set out policy positions, develop standards and guidance, recognise lifecycle care professionals, build shared data platforms, and connect practitioners and institutions across regions.
A world where electronics are cared for as long as they can serve safely, and their elements are recovered with dignity when they cannot.
To make Electronics Lifecycle Care a recognised, standardised and financed discipline worldwide, so that critical equipment stays in service, skilled jobs grow locally, and fewer resources are lost.
Founded 2026 ELCA was founded in Nairobi in 2026. Its charter, constitution and first standards agenda are in draft for consultation with founding members.
Seven beliefs that guide our work
How the Alliance is run
The structure below is set out in the draft charter and constitution and will be confirmed by the founding assembly.
General Assembly
All voting members. Adopts the charter, elects the council and approves standards.
Governing Council
Sets strategy and oversees the secretariat, with balanced seats across regions and value-chain roles.
Technical Committees
Develop standards and guidance, including the Working Group on Standards for Repair and Refurbishment.
Regional Chapters
Bring the Alliance's work to national and regional level, starting in East Africa.
Five pillars
Each pillar has its own committee, deliverables and measures. Together they make lifecycle care visible, trusted and fundable.
Standards that make care trustworthy
Customers, regulators and financiers need to know that a repaired or refurbished unit is safe and fit for service. ELCA develops practical standards and guidance that work alongside existing international standards rather than duplicating them.
Standards agenda
| Workstream | Scope | Builds on | Status |
|---|
Status reflects the Alliance's draft standards development agenda. Referenced standards are published by their own bodies; ELCA does not reproduce them.
Open, consensus-based development
Proposal
Any member can propose a work item with a clear need and scope.
Drafting
A technical committee with balanced representation prepares a working draft.
Public consultation
The draft is open for comment by members and the public.
Approval & review
Adopted by consensus, published, and reviewed at least every three years.
Electronics Lifecycle Care professionals are needed now more than ever
As critical electronic assets age and OEM support declines, industry needs a new generation of technicians and engineers who can diagnose, repair and extend the life of the systems that run networks, power, hospitals, factories and security. ELCA recognises their skills and gives them a career.
A seven-level career pathway
Technician route through vocational training and recognition of prior learning, joining the engineer route through degree study and professional registration. Levels are to be mapped to national qualification frameworks in each region.
Six domains of competence
How recognition will work
ELCA will recognise training and certification programmes that meet its competency framework, rather than run all training itself. Employers, training institutions and professional bodies can apply to have programmes recognised.
Who is a lifecycle care professional?
Anyone whose work keeps electronic equipment in safe service or recovers it responsibly: health-check and maintenance teams, diagnosticians, repair and rework technicians, refurbishers, remanufacturers, test and calibration specialists, reliability engineers and recovery specialists.
I learned my skills on the job. Can I be recognised?
Yes. Recognition of prior learning is central to the pathway, so experienced repairers, including those from the informal sector, can have their skills assessed and recognised.
Does ELCA replace engineering registration?
No. National engineering boards register engineers. ELCA works with them so that lifecycle care becomes a recognised field of practice within existing registration systems.
When will recognition open?
The competency framework is in draft for consultation. Recognition will open after the founding assembly adopts it.
Care or replace?
A first assessment for a failed unit, based on the Alliance's care hierarchy and boundary conditions. The example below is pre-filled for a failed telecom rectifier module; change the answers to test your own case.
The Electronics Passport
Electronics are a population. Like people, they deserve an identity, a health record and a census. The Electronics Passport is a proposed digital record that follows each asset through its life: origin, configuration, faults, repairs, owners and, finally, material recovery.
Prototype with illustrative sample records. Try ELC-KE-2025-0007318, ELC-KE-2024-0003902 or ELC-UG-2026-0000415.
What a passport records
| Field group | Examples |
|---|---|
| Identity | Passport ID, OEM, model, serial number, date of manufacture |
| Deployment | Sector, country, site class, owner category |
| Health record | Health checks, fault codes, root causes, repairs, parts used |
| Care outcomes | Returned to service, refurbished, harvested, recycled |
| Materials | Mass, hazardous substances, critical raw materials |
| Data security | Sanitisation method and certificate, where data was held |
Why measurement matters
Most of what we know about electronics at end of life comes from waste statistics. Almost nothing is measured about how much is cared for, repaired and returned to service. ELCA's Care Index will change that.
Documented collection and recycling rate by region, 2022
Source: Global E-waste Monitor 2024 (ITU / UNITAR).
Source: Global E-waste Monitor 2024. Care Index indicators (repair rate, re-failure rate, value retained) are in development.
Financing care across the value chain
Repair benches, test equipment, spares inventories and skilled people need capital. ELCA's Care Finance framework maps financial instruments to each actor in the lifecycle care ecosystem, so that banks, investors, development partners and producer responsibility schemes can fund care with confidence.
| Value-chain actor | Typical financing need | Example instruments |
|---|
Illustrative mapping from the draft ELCA Care Finance Guide. Instruments should be designed with qualified financial and legal advisers.
Bankable care
Standard outcome metrics (units returned to service, value retained, emissions avoided) let lenders price care projects and report impact.
EPR that funds repair
Extended producer responsibility schemes can reward repair, refurbishment and reuse, not only collection and recycling.
Care-first procurement
Lifecycle costing, service and spares plans, and acceptance of certified refurbished equipment in public tenders.
Publications and resources
Founding documents, policy papers and guidance from the Alliance. Drafts are shared with members for consultation; request a copy from the secretariat.
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Where to meet the Alliance
Join the Alliance as a founding member
Founding members shape the charter, the first standards and the professional framework. Membership is open worldwide. Fees will be set by the founding assembly; founding members will be consulted first.
Where do you fit?
Members choose the value-chain role that best describes their work. Categories help balance committees and the council.
Apply to join
Fill in the form to prepare your application. Online applications open with the founding assembly; until then, copy your prepared application and email it to the interim secretariat.
Email it to ogola.ndolo@emroc.africa with the subject “ELCA founding membership”.
Talk to the interim secretariat
For founding membership, standards work, partnerships with international bodies, media and speaking requests.
Interim secretariat
Nairobi, Kenya
www.elca.globalFounding convenor: Ogola Paul Ndolo
ogola.ndolo@emroc.africa+254 755 812 900Send us a message
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