(l to r ) Melinda and Bill Gates
Jamaica, CMC – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided US$2 million to finance a project to provide Jamaicans with increased access to ICT services, as well as training to promote personal, organizational and national development.
The grant will also fund a mandatory programme of advocacy and sensitization of decision-makers to the value of libraries in the country’s development process.
On Wednesday, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, gave details of the agreement in an address to Parliament.
He said beneficiaries will include users of public libraries, including marginalized groups, senior citizens, persons from rural and inner-city communities, the unemployed and persons with disabilities, including the visually impaired.
Gates, the former chief executive and chairperson of Microsoft is ranked in the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people.
