New spaces for new partners
In light of the recent retrenchment of official foreign assistance, particularly USAID, Lubuto is developing new strategies to sustain and improve our services to Zambia's future generations. As we reported in Lubuto’s last newsletter, USAID funding has only supported the expansion of our buildings, technology and collections; we were never dependent on USAID for operating costs. With the support of our Zambia Board, we are allocating our time, energy and creativity toward identifying business investors and new partnerships in Zambia. This builds on our history of individual and corporate supporters in North America who have made the work of Lubuto Library Partners possible.
We believe Lubuto libraries have many new features to attract new support. For example:
Construction of the Lubuto Model Library and Center for Training and Administration, the heart of the Lubuto Library Network, is now complete. We’ve previously talked about our Baby Laptime program and the Creative Play Center for our youngest users. Now a new Teen Center showcases Lubuto's great collection of books (including graphic novels), video games and technology for our older visitors. The young adults and teens are the ones who are guiding the organization and programming of this center.
The youth who attended an inaugural Teen Center planning meeting were filled with enthusiasm and ideas such as a debate club, a book review sharing board, a book club and a not-a-book-club (to share their excitement for a book they read with their peers). And of course, video games! These will be youth-led initiatives and we are reaching out to the community to find young volunteer staff for the Teen Center.
Another new space of the library is the Multipurpose Room which accommodates film screenings, plays, talks and other large group presentations. This will allow for separate events appropriate for specific groups—adolescents, young adults, young children, families, etc. We are ready to welcome many corporate and NGO partners—including those who offered wildly successful programs in the past—to use this space to reach the broad audience that comes to Lubuto libraries.
Your contribution matters now more than ever
Donations from individuals are even more critical than any other time in our 20-year history. With you as a partner, we will steadfastly continue to find new opportunities to serve the communities who trust us. Will you give today?
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