On Tuesday the 21st of August, 2001, our project PROBIGUA (Proyecto Bibliotecas Guatemala - Libraries Project Guatemala), was awarded the “Acces to Learning 2001” prize by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in recognition of our efforts to contribute to a better education for the children and youth of Guatemala. The Gates Foundation has honored us with this award because of our tenacity to allow more people in Guatemala, particular those sectors who are discriminated against such as the indigenous population and impoverished rural communities, to have acces to the world of computers and digital information.

The award comes in the form of a trophy, and a grant of US$250,000. This money will be used to open five computer centers in five different Guatemalan communities, and an additional minimum of two computers will be installed in 14 different libraries. In general, we will greatly improve the educational services that we provide in communities through Guatemala.

The award was presented to the Director and Founder of PROBIGUA, Rigoberto Zamora Charuc, in Boston, United States, in the LXVII Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

More information:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org