Sourced From: http://asiafoundation.org
The Asia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) set up book distribution centers at five places Southern Philippines on July 19 and donated 28,000 books. The areas where the book distribution centers were launched included the provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and the cities of General Santos and Tacurong.
The book donations were part of the Transparent Accountable Governance Project, a partnership between USAID and the Asia Foundation. The donations were made by The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia’s program.
At each book distribution ceremony, The Asia Foundation and USAID donated brand-new educational materials to public elementary, secondary schools, and colleges as a continuing commitment to promote education and literacy in Mindanao. Boxes of reference materials were distributed to public libraries in host provinces, municipalities and cities, and partner non-government organizations of The Asia Foundation.
The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in the Philippines, Dr. Steven Rood noted, “As we strive for a peaceful, democratic, just, and prosperous Philippines, a key emphasis is to address education. School children have to be enabled to become thinking individuals so that they could become a driving force in efforts for peace and progress. Education is central to this process, and books are vital to allowing students to learn about the wider world.”
Since 1954, Books for Asia has distributed over 13 million books and journals to public and private institutions across the Philippines. Books for Asia donates educational and instructional books to all three of the island groups – Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao – addressing the resource needs in 14 of 17 regions of the country.
