Last Wednesday evening I had the opportunity to personally thank Bill Gates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation support for the Global Libraries [13] programs that IREX implements in Romania and Ukraine.
The programs aim to improve people's lives in these two important modernizing societies. They dramatically increase public access to information--equipping public libraries with computers, training librarians, and strengthening the voice of the library sector. IREX sees these libraries becoming key centers for education, sharing, and dialog to the benefit of the citizens of Romania and Ukraine. In only two years, the programs have equipped nearly 1000 libraries and trained nearly 1500 librarians in Romania [14] and Ukraine [15]. The program’s libraries make free internet access available to approximately 21 million people. By the end the programs, more than 3000 libraries will be equipped.
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Gates was in DC to serve as the keynote speaker at an event organized by the US Global Leadership Coalition honoring the work of Secretaries Madeline Albright and Tom Ridge and urging continued federal support for US foreign assistance [16]. IREX is firmly aligned with Gates’s message underscoring the importance of global engagement and American leadership. The work of international NGOS like IREX is particularly critical during these tumultuous times.
We express our appreciation as well to the Governments of Romania and of Ukraine for their strong and continuing support for these programs, and to the librarians and other citizens of both countries who are making these programs their own for now and for the future.
Please follow with us and on the Gates Foundation web page [17] the exciting work of these two projects as they fulfill their promise to Romania and Ukraine and to IREX’s mission to make a better world.
W. Robert Pearson [18] is the President of IREX