Remarks at Ford IFP Event

National Press Club, Washington
25 April 2006

By Dr. Allan E. Goodman
President and CEO, Institute of International Education

In the recent conjunction of Passover, Easter, and Mawlid al-Nabi, I was struck by the fact that these religions have at their core three central concerns.

One is rejection.  The founders of all great and good things were not well accepted in their time and the people who professed their values often suffered persecution.

Another is deliverance.  The message is that it is possible.  And that you have to work at it.

A third is remembrance of the poor.  The world has always had a lot of poor people and not enough rich people who think caring for the poor is what riches are all about.

These three themes are also at the core of what IFP is all about. 

In one bold move, Ford Foundation has made education possible for those who would be denied it.  They are often those that society rejects. 

The Foundation took an exemplary and generous step toward showing how a single, focused gift can make a difference.  And along the way allowed us to prove that the sources of intellectual and community leadership came come from the poor themselves.  This is especially "good news," since there are an awful lot more of the poor than of the advantaged.

Subianto from Indonesia was a beneficiary.  He was a trash picker who raised his 12 siblings and somehow managed to go to university.  It would have ended there without IFP which enabled him to earn a Master's degree from the Netherlands in Mathematics.  The degree was presented posthumously because he perished in the Tsunami.

But no one will forget what his short life showed was possible.  Fortunately, there are many stories emerging of IFP alumni who return to their countries and set about changing them for the good.

By making the world a less dangerous place, they are part of our deliverance.

It is a privilege for my colleagues and I to service this program.  What those in it do and achieve inspires me every day.