The PeerCorps Trust Fund is excited to announce that the IBM Corp. has made a donation in support of the Tanzanian Digital Library Initiative (TanDLI)!

IBM is a household name in many parts of the world. It is a global information technology leader in data analytics, cloud computing and cybersecurity consulting. Its expertise ranges from supercomputers to nanotechnology. For TanDLI to receive support from such a heavyweight is very exciting.

The $1,000 USD donation was part of IBM’s corporate citizenship initiative supporting employee involvement in voluntary work (@ibmvolunteers). A very special thanks goes to Teija Ruottinen for initiating such a wide reaching global effort which spans three continents, to ultimately provide educational resources for rural Tanzanians!

IBM’s donation will be used to acquire laptop computers and networking equipment for an expansion and upgrade of the Nzega Digital Library. The improved library will provide more resiliency against blackouts, which remain common problem in the town. The laptop-based server and workstations will allow the entire set-up to function without electricity for several hours at a time on a single charge. Overall the library will serve a community of approximately 30,000 people.

TanDLI was developed with the goal of increasing access to books and educational resources in a world region where they are often completely unavailable. IBM’s contribution is a very important milestone for the project. Stay tuned for future updates!