Cultures of Resistance

Behind most unlikely endeavors you will often find a person or persons who are visionary in the best sense of the word—they see what isn’t yet there, and help to bring it to fruition. Dr. Chin Kyung Kim, founding president of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, is surely one of these people.

The Lee & Gund Foundation is excited to engage in an innovative and long-term educational partnership with the prestigious Maputo-based Lurdes Mutola Foundation (www.flmutola.org.mz). A three-year grant has been dedicated to the new 'Mais Escola para Mim' (More School for Me) program, the objective of which is to increase the numbers of girls and young women who graduate from secondary schools in Mozambique, particularly in rural parts of the country.

Cultures of Resistance is proud of our continued partnership with the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. In 2008 and 2009 we will continue to support their life-saving work in the Great Lakes region of central Africa (D.R. Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda).

The Lee & Gund Foundation proudly supports the Nema Foundation's 2008 secondary school scholarship program. The UK-based charity has utilized our support to enable ten exceptional young people in Northern Mozambique to continue their education and subsequently help lift themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty.

The Pyongang University of Science and Technology (PUST), slated to matriculate its first group of students in 2008, is North Korea's first and only full-fledged institution of higher education whose faculty will be entirely composed of international scholars and academics, with all instruction in English.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq and continued violence within the country have made it all but impossible for Iraqi students to pursue higher education within their own country. Meanwhile, Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan often have limited access to higher learning. To help address these issues until Iraq’s tradition of higher education can again flourish, the Cultures of Resistance Network is proud to support the Iraqi Student Project.

The Lourdes Mutola Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2008 "More School for Me" program, made possible in part by support from the Lee & Gund Foundation.