Wednesday, July 2, 2008

OLPC and ICDL apply $1M laptop funding to Mongolia

By Mass High Tech Staff

The International Children’s Digital Library and One Laptop per Child have landed $1 million from the World Bank for their efforts to deploy their technology in Mongolia.

The funding will be used to optimize the library on OLPC’s XO laptop, and to enable OLPC’s servers to host and distribute the ICDL’s books, according to ICDL director Tim Browne. It will also fund crucial training on how to use both nonprofits’ technologies in a classroom setting, Browne said. The funds will also provide for more Mongolian content in the library and for more XO laptops.
 
Browne said it was gratifying that the World Bank, which had funded its efforts previously, came back with more financing.

“It validates everything we do much more than we ever expected,” he said.
 
The government of Mongolia has been working with the ICDL since 2006. Founded in 2002, the nonprofit ICDL is based in Manchester, Mass.