Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade. The individual and societal consequences of this chronic global crisis are profound. Children are consigned to poverty and isolation—just like their parents—never knowing what the light of learning could mean in their lives. At the same time, their governments struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving, global information economy, hobbled by a vast and increasingly urban underclass that cannot support itself, much less contribute to the commonwealth, because it lacks the tools to do so.

OLPC (One Laptop per Child) believe that the emerging world must leverage their most precious natural resource, their children. They feel that the best way to do this is to tap into the children’s innate capacities to learn, share and create their own. Their answer to this challenge is the XO laptop, a children’s machine designed for “learning learning”. The XO laptop is designed at low-cost and is power-efficient, responsive, flexible and above all durable. With the XO laptop a child can explore the world around them by educating themselves.

OLPC is not, at heart, a technology program, nor is the XO a product in any conventional sense of the word. OLPC is a non-profit organization providing a means to an end—an end that sees children in even the most remote regions of the globe being given the opportunity to tap into their own potential, to be exposed to a whole world of ideas, and to contribute to a more productive and saner world community.

So please help the TM Forum support OLPC’s mission. This year TM Forum has selected OLPC to be the chosen charity for this event.  Donations (cash in US $ and Euros only) will be collected at the Awards Ceremony & Gala Dinner for this worthy charity that uses IT resources to support communities in developing countries.  You are also welcome to contribute through their website.  Please support their cause.

For more information regarding the OLPC, please visit their website at: http://www.laptop.org/

Thank you.