IMPACT ANALYSIS:
CASE STUDY
BIBLIONEF (NL)
This paper provides an impact analysis of the philanthropic institution
Biblionef (NL). This research aims to provide some explanation for
how philanthropic institutions aimed at higher fundamental needs can
achieve an optimal impact through resource allocation. In doing so,
important general implications regarding the creation and analysis of
impact are made.
Investigating the
importance of resource allocation in
optimizing impact
Preface and acknowledgements
This paper was written as the final part of my bachelor International Economics and Business
Economics at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Ever since I attended the European Conference for Strategic Philanthropy in November I
became very interested in impact analysis and philanthropic institutions. For this reason, when
my supervisor, Karen Maas, offered me to perform an impact analysis for the foundation
Biblionef I immediately decided to do so. During this bachelor thesis I definitely learnt more
about the foundation Biblionef and the significance of analyzing impact.
I would like to use this opportunity to thank my supervisor Karen Maas for her creative
advice and guidance during my research. I am also grateful for all the guidance and data I
received from the foundation Biblionef. The board members, volunteers and beneficiaries of
Biblionef had very interesting thoughts and information to share. In particular, I want to thank
Aagje van Heekeren and Inge de Jager for all their help.
Rotterdam, June 22, 2011
Lisanne Broekhuisen
1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………
4
Chapter 2
What is Impact? ………………………………………………………………………….
7
2.1
Impact…………………………………………………………………………………
7
2.1.1
Logic Model…………………………………………………………………………
8
2.1.2
Can all institutions measure their impact?.........................................
8
2.1.3
Contingency Framework…………………………………………………… ..
9
2.2
Optimal Impact……………………………………………………………………
10
2.2.1
Different Needs……………………………………………………………………
11
2.2.2
Resource Allocation……………………………………………………………..
13
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Biblionef’s Impact……………………………………………………………………...
15
3.1
Methodology………………………………………………………………………..
15
3.1.2
Determining Potential Results………………………………………………
15
3.1.3
Data Collection……………………………………………………………………..
21
3.2
Defining and processing Biblionef’s Impact…………………………..
22
3.2.1
Defining Impact……………………………………………………………………
23
3.2.2
Process of creating Impact……………………………………………………
25
3.3
Biblionef’s Impact………………………………………………………………..
28
3.3.1
Category One………………………………………………………………………..
29
3.3.2
Category Two……………………………………………………………………….
31
3.3.3
Category Three……………………………………………………………………..
32
3.3.4
Category Four……………………………………………………………………….
33
3.3.5
Category Five……………………………………………………………………….
33
3.3.6
Concluding Remarks Biblionef’s Impact………………………………..
38
Necessary Factors for optimizing Biblionef’s Impact………………….
39
4.1
39
Biblionef’s Optimal Impact…………………………………………………..
2
Chapter 5
4.1.1
Language………………………………………………………………………………
40
4.1.2
Inherent Skills of Students and Teachers ……………………………….
40
4.1.3
Guidance……………………………………………………………………………….
41
4.1.4
Local Organization…………………………………………………………………
41
General Implications and Conclusions…………………………………………
43
5.1.
Impact Analysis Revisited…………………………………………………........
43
5.1.2
Biblionef’s Impact …………………………………………………………………
44
5.2.1
Limitations of Research………………………………………………………….
45
5.2.2
Further Research……………………………………………………………………
45
5.3
Final Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….
46
References
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
47
Appendix
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
49
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Chapter 1 Introduction
The recent financial crisis has not only limited funds for philanthropic institutions but also trust;
people have become increasingly cautionary and critical in giving donations or distributing
funds. Many wonder what true impact philanthropic institutions have. On one hand, it is
unfortunate that such a critical attitude has resulted in people and, most importantly, politicians
to suggest that we should not give aid at all. Fortunately, many do not agree with this suggestion
but they still remain critical of the effects of their funds. Many governments and donors have
therefore become interested in measuring the impact of their funds. But most importantly, by
analyzing their impacts, philanthropic institutions can also be far more efficient and effective at
their missions.
This of course raises the question: what is exactly impact? Within this research
beneficiaries and people active within philanthropic institutions are asked this question, and
answers vary greatly. Even though impact analysis is still a relatively new research method there
is sufficient information regarding how to both measure and define impact. Indeed, impact can
be defined as “the portion of the total outcome that happened as a result of the activity of an
organization, above and beyond what would have happened anyway” (Clark et al., cited in Maas
2009). This definition already incorporates an important issue: how to isolate the impact of a
single philanthropic institution, when in most cases the impacts of various institutions are
interdependent. Or, as this research will show, an optimum impact also requires various
conditions to be in place.
Another key aspect of impact analysis is the emphasis on beneficiaries. Unlike traditional
financial accounting techniques, impact analysis incorporates the beneficiaries’ point of view.
For example, David Bonbright, the founder of Keystone, argues the importance of the
constituent’s voice. Keystone focuses on obtaining feedback from both the beneficiaries and the
donors of the philanthropic institution in order to analyze its impact. In other words, in
analyzing impact, a philanthropic institution should really analyze its impact on the people it
aims to serve: both donors and beneficiaries (Keystone, 2011). Even though this concept might
seem straightforward, a complete impact analysis faces many difficulties. Impact analysis is not
the same across the board; there are numerous philanthropic institutions with completely
different types of beneficiaries. For example, the impact of a philanthropic institution focused on
providing malaria bed nets, does not require the beneficiary to have certain skills. But this is not
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always the case. The research of Biblionef illustrates that as we shift aid from direct
physiological needs to development we are faced with dilemmas when optimizing impact.
Generally, people are inclined to believe that aid should be aimed at countries or projects
which face extreme poverty. For basic needs this might be true. However, not all types of aid
should be aimed at countries and projects which need it the most. Instead, the research of
Biblionef’s impact shows that as aid ascends the Maslow pyramid, in order to optimize impact,
aid could also be distributed based on skills available to use the resources rather than necessity.
This of course results in many dilemmas and questions. For instance, is an optimal impact, a
greater end result, or a greater change? Or is impact optimal if you help the largest number of
people even though the impact is smaller per person? Finally, of course one wonders whether
measuring impact will therefore result in other beneficiaries to be targeted in order to create an
optimal impact.
This research, and especially the research for the foundation Biblionef, emphasizes the
significance of resource allocation in optimizing impact. Biblionef sends new children books and
supports library products in disadvantaged areas. Biblionef has various headquarters in Europe;
this research concerns the impact of Biblionef in the Netherlands (NL) and a few of the local
Biblionefs set up by Biblionef NL in Aruba and Curaçao. For the remainder of this research
Biblionef NL will be referred to as Biblionef and the local Biblionef organizations will be
distinguished by the countries they are located in. Yearly, the joint Biblionef organizations
distribute five hundred thousand new children books over the whole world (Biblionef, 2011).
Biblionef receives many requests for books, and therefore needs to be selective.
The main purpose of this study is to gain some insight in the implications of impact
analysis, and in particular analyze the impact of Biblionef. The main research question of this
study is: what should the allocation of resources of philanthropic institutions (aimed at higher
fundamental needs) be based on in order to optimize impact? By answering this question we
gain some insight in certain implications of optimizing but also measuring impact.
The main finding of this paper is that optimizing impact results in trade-offs between
necessity and the ability to create the greatest impact. As institutions start to focus more on
development instead of basic needs, an optimal impact will depend on certain conditions and
skills to be in place. Thus, if philanthropic institutions want to optimize their impact, resources
will not always be allocated to those who need the resources the most, but to those who are most
effective at using the resources.
This paper first continues with explaining what impact is and providing a theoretic
5
framework. Second, the focus will be on the impact of Biblionef and illustrate the methodology
used. Fourth, the factors crucial to the impact of Biblionef are discussed leading to the question:
How can Biblionef optimize its impact? Finally, conclusions and general implications are drawn.
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Chapter 2 What is impact?
This section describes the theoretical framework related to determining and analyzing
impact. Models used for impact analysis such as a logic model and a contingency
framework are introduced. Finally, the term “optimal impact” is evaluated looking at
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and general resource allocation.
2.1
Impact
As mentioned earlier, there has been an increase in demand for impact analysis to complement
traditional financial accounting methods. Recently, the Dutch scientific council for the
government (Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Rijksoverheid- WRR) published its report “Less
pretention, more ambition” discussing a necessary shift in perspective concerning aid. Within its
report, the WRR argued the necessity of “shifting the focus of aid towards development and selfreliance of countries instead of simply focusing on direct poverty reduction” (WRR, 2010, p12).
The WRR then continued to conclude that if aid is indeed focused on development instead of
poverty reduction, impact analysis would be very important in evaluating the results of aid.
According to the WRR, “if improving living conditions is the goal, then it usually concerns output
measurements; if development is the goal, then research needs to give insight into the impact
and outcome” (WRR, 2010, p215).
In order to really measure impact, it is important to distinguish between outputs,
outcome and impact. Outputs are the direct results of the activities of an organization (Maas,
2010). An example of an output of, for instance, Doctors without Borders could be the number of
children vaccinated. On the other hand, measuring outcome involves measuring more long-term
results. For instance one might ask: have the vaccinations led to improved health and
employment opportunities? The answer could then be an outcome. We previously defined
impact as “the portion of the total outcome that happened as a result of the activity of an
organization, above and beyond what would have happened anyway”. Within this definition, the
word outcome is of course already used, and thus impact is definitely a long-term result. In
addition, this definition highlights the importance of establishing a relationship between cause
and effect when measuring both outcome and impact. Of course, this becomes more difficult in
the long run, since many other factors come into play, making it difficult to isolate a certain
outcome or impact. An example of an impact of Doctors without Borders could be a decrease in
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poverty as a result of the increased employment opportunities due to the vaccines. Probably the
most useful way to represent these differences is a logic model.
2.1.1 Logic Model
The logic model is based on the Logical Framework Approach first developed by the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID). Within the Logical Framework Approach
impact is addressed. The goal (the impact), the purpose, the activities and the outputs are all
highlighted within the framework as well as how these individual parts can be monitored. Thus,
the logical framework shows the intended impact of an organization or project and tries to verify
whether this impact, or goal, is indeed achieved. The logical framework approach also takes into
account the possibility of other factors affecting the impact of the project, and also stipulates that
the impact is in fact a long-run effect (AusAID, 2000).
The logic model represents part of this logical framework approach. This model briefly
illustrates how the activities and inputs of an organization or project intend to produce the
outputs and outcomes and ultimately impact (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2001). This logic model
is used as a starting point with analyzing the impact of Biblionef. A sample of a logic model is
shown in figure 1.
Figure 1: Logic Model
Inputs
Activities
Outputs
Outcomes
Impacts
2.1.2. Can all Institutions measure their Impact?
Not all philanthropic institutions are able to measure their impact. Some are part of a complex
network of interactions making it difficult to distinguish their individual impacts. For instance,
an organization focused on the democratization of a country is faced with so many other factors
that it is hard to really measure only its individual impact. In fact, Ebrahim and Rangan use a
contingency framework to differentiate between organizations that should be measuring longterm impacts, and organizations that instead should stick to measuring shorter-term results
(Ebrahim & Rangan, 2010, p3).
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2.1.3 Contingency framework
Ebrahim describes the contingency framework by stating the following: “The basic idea is that
not everyone needs to measure impact, and that what you should measure is contingent on what
you’re trying to achieve” (Ebrahim, 2010, p3). The contingency framework illustrates
philanthropic institutions’ abilities to measure different types of results. The contingency
framework depends on the theory of change and the operational strategy of the organization.
The ActKnowledge, an action research organization, defines an organization’s theory of change
as “all building blocks required to bring about a given long-term goal” (ActKnowledge, 2011). In
other words, the theory of change describes a causal relationship and attempts to address the
organization’s ability to recognize all the factors contributing to its goal. A theory of change can
either be focused or complex. While a focused theory of change refers to a linear relationship
between cause and effect, a complex theory of change refers to cause-effect relationships where
many causal factors are in place and these cause-effect relationships are weakly understood
(Ebrahim & Rangan, 2010).
At the same time, the operational strategy describes the tasks an organization
undertakes in order to achieve its goals. An operational strategy can also be both focused and
complex: a focused operational strategy refers to an organization with a specific task and a
complex operational strategy refers to an organization that is active in various niches in order to
achieve its goals (Ebrahim & Rangan, 2010). Taking both the operational strategy and the theory
of change into account, Ebrahim and Rangan have developed a contingency framework which
shows four quadrants with different types of results an organization can obtain (figure 2). This
framework clearly indicates that not all organizations can actually measure impact. For instance,
organizations focusing on human rights might actually only be able to produce institutional
results that do not really contain an impact measurement. The contingency framework was used
for the impact analysis of Biblionef, and indeed Biblionef’s theory of change and operational
strategy were analyzed in order to determine the types of results that could be obtained. Yet this
will be part of the methodology outlined in the next chapter, where we will discuss the
methodology used to measure the impact of Biblionef.
9
Figure 21: Contingency Framework
Institutional Results
Theory of Change
Complex


Change in societal norms and
Ecosystem Results

Economic development,
policies (on rights and
comprehensive rural development
freedoms, good governance,
and natural resource management,
efficient markets)
collaborative development

Measure outputs and
Measure outcomes and impacts
“influence” (intermediate
Focused
outcomes)
Niche Results


Integrated Results
Basic and emergency services,

Service delivery (in health,
soup kitchens, crisis drop-in
education, employment),
centers and hotlines
immunization campaigns, complex
Measure inputs, activities,
emergency services
outputs

Measure aggregate outputs,
outcomes, and sometimes impacts
Focused
Complex
Operational Strategy
2.2. Optimal impact
It is hard to define what optimal impact is, since it is hard to decide what optimal is. A wellknown definition of optimality in economics is of course a pareto-optimal allocation. The term is
used to describe a situation where no reallocation of resources can occur to make one party
better off without making at least some other party worse off (Frank, 2006). However, in terms
of aid this definition of an optimal allocation of resources may in fact not be very useful since it
does not address the issue of equity. Equity is a key issue when deciding on how to distribute aid.
Philanthropic institutions often have limited resources, thus at some point have to decide on
whom receives their aid. The aspect of equity will therefore be a key part of the answer to the
This figure was obtained from the working paper of Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan titled The
Limits of Nonprofit Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance. The figure can be
found in the appendix labeled figure 1, pg. 52.
1
10
research question regarding the allocation of resources of philanthropic institutions. With the
growing attention for impact analysis, philanthropic institutions might aim to optimize their
impact, but what is actually incorporated by an optimal impact? Before we define optimal
impact, we have to distinguish between different types of aid and the different types of needs it
addresses.
2.2.1 Different needs
There are of course many different types of aid and while some are focused on providing basic
needs, others are focused more on development. In this research different types of aid will be
distinguished by making use of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow distinguishes between five
different types of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, needs of love, affection and
belongingness, needs for esteem and finally needs for self-actualization (figure 3). The
physiological needs include basic needs which people need in order to survive (Maslow, 1943).
Figure 32: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Biblionef focuses on needs for
safety, belonging, esteem and
self-actualization.
Absolute poverty is defined by the World Bank as the average income required buying
the minimum requirements of life, such as a number of calories. Therefore, poverty reduction
focuses on helping people meet their physiological needs and also often focuses on the least
advantaged people in the area or country (Rees & Smith, 1998, p.53). As aid “ascends” the
hierarchy of needs of Maslow, and these physiological needs are satisfied, aid becomes more
focused on development rather than on reducing poverty. Development can be defined as a
permanent change and implies that the costs of growth are minimized and the benefits of growth
are distributed among the entire population. In addition, development can only take place if the
Figure is adopted from the article Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs by Simons J.A., Irwin D.B. & Drinnien B.A.
(1987). It is available online at
<http://www.georgetownisd.org/ghs/FurrD/English%20IV/MASLOW%20packet.PDF> page 5.
2
11
quality of life of the population improves (Rees & Smith, 1998, p 15). Development therefore
takes place at the levels of needs that follow the physiological needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs.
The impact analysis of Biblionef revealed that Biblionef itself is active at satisfying the
needs for safety, belongingness, esteem and finally even the need for self-actualization, thereby
being active in four different levels of the hierarchy of needs. This is first of all due to the fact that
Biblionef’s children books contribute to opportunities for employment, thereby partially
satisfying security needs. In addition, Biblionef’s children’s book also help satisfy the need for
belonging and this fact is actually emphasized by the following quote on Biblionef’s
website: “Good children’s literature gives the child a place in the world and the world a place in
the child” (Lindgren, A.3). Children not only read about the world around them but at the same
time they learn to read signs and books and thereby are able to be part of the world as well.
Finally, Biblionef also helps children satisfy their needs for esteem and self-actualization. By
being able to read, children gain confidence and often books also help children gain respect for
other people. For instance, one of the projects of Biblionef is distributing children books
concerning AIDS/HIV and thereby providing children with information regarding the disease
and people who have AIDS or HIV. By satisfying the above needs, Biblionef’s children books also
help satisfy the need for self-actualization. Children’s creativity and fantasy are nourished by the
books and at the same time, children become less prejudiced as they read about the world
around them.
Overall, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs does not literally indicate the conditions that have
to be available in order to satisfy each level of needs but still indicates a sense of order. Before
being able to satisfy a certain need, other needs have to be satisfied first. Since the physiological
needs are at the bottom of the hierarchy this clearly illustrates a lack of pre-conditions available
to satisfy those needs. Thus, philanthropic institutions focused on meeting physiological needs
can do so without relying on, for instance, the quality of education of the beneficiaries. For these
institutions it is therefore easier to optimize their impact or meet their goals since they do not
rely on many conditions they have little control over. Biblionef on the other hand, is dependent
on the education system since children should be able to learn to read the books. This ability
depends on the guidance children receive. Consequently, in order to optimize impact, Biblionef
clearly relies on certain factors to be in place, and this is probably true for all philanthropic
institutions focused on meeting needs beyond the basic physiological needs.
This quote is represented in Dutch on Biblionef’s website. The English quote was actually obtained from
the Astrid Lingren Memorial Website, available at: < http://www.alma.se/en/Award-winners/tamerenglish/>
3
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To conclude, philanthropic institutions rely on different conditions when addressing
different needs. Philanthropic institutions focused on meeting “higher level” of needs (or
development) therefore require certain conditions to be in place in order to optimize their
impact. As the impact analysis of Biblionef will reveal, this means that aid focused on
development does not always address those most in need.
2.2.2 Resource Allocation
With discussing resource allocation we return to defining optimal impact. Different types of
resource allocation results in different types of impact. Over the past years many different types
of resource allocation have been used to distribute aid to developing countries. There have been
numerous discussions regarding which type of resource allocation would be most effective at
attaining development or reducing poverty. The most interesting discussion for this research is
the discussion between universal and targeted aid. Thandika Mkandawire, director of the United
Nations Research Institute for Social Development, describes the difference as: “Under
universalism, the entire population is the beneficiary of social benefits as a basic right, while
under targeting, eligibility to social benefits involves some kind of means-testing to determine
the “truly-deserving” (Mkandawir, 2005). An example he provides is Japan after World War II
where welfare-entitlements were only distributed to the part of the workforce that was deemed
essential for the prosperity of the entire nation. So instead of distributing resources on a
universal scale and thereby providing people a minimum level of subsistence, resources were
distributed based on skills of workers. In fact, the skilled industrial workers were deemed the
“truly-deserving” and received the welfare entitlements (Mkandawire, 2005). Even though, at
first such a policy might seem unethical, it is sometimes necessary to target aid at certain groups.
Any philanthropic institution that has certain criteria beneficiaries have to meet, are in
fact targeting their aid at a certain group. Biblionef tests, for instance, the motivation and skills of
the applicant before deciding on whether to send children books to the location. In addition,
within Curacao, Biblionef differentiates between schools and the books they receive. Thus,
resource allocation becomes an important decisive factor in determining optimal impact. By
looking at the type of resource allocation an organization decides to use, one can actually define
its optimal impact. If a philanthropic institution allocates its resources based on the maximum
people it can help, such an institution would define an optimal impact as the number of people
reached. Whereas an institution focused on achieving the optimum amount of change may
actually look at whether certain critical conditions are available for beneficiaries to make
maximum use of the resources they receive.
Thus, it is hard to simply give a single definition of an optimal impact. By looking at the
13
different types of resource allocation of philanthropic institutions one observes different
interpretations of optimal impact. Thus, for Biblionef the definition for optimal impact is actually
a result of the data collected which will be presented in the next chapter.
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Chapter 3 Biblionef’s Impact
In this chapter the social impact of Biblionef is analyzed and the methodology is
extensively discussed. In addition the process Biblionef uses to optimize impact is
addressed hopefully giving some insight into the answer to the research question. Various
models are introduced and data from interviews are included.
3.1. Methodology
Impact is of course a very broad concept and concerns ALL possible long-term effects of a project
or philanthropic institution. For the purpose of this research it is more useful to limit the scope
and analyze and measure the social impact of Biblionef. Social impact can be defined as “the
impact of organizations on society on the economic, environmental and social dimension” (Maas,
2009). By measuring social impact the scope of the research becomes slightly more focused on
the intended impacts Biblionef aims to achieve. The first stage of this research consists of
determining the theory of change and operational strategy for Biblionef in order to use the
contingency framework to determine what results can be obtained for Biblionef. The next stage
of this research consists of interviews with the organization, board members and beneficiaries
asking what they believe the impact of Biblionef is. Using these interviews a logic model and
impact map is developed. The final stage of this research consists of evaluating the different
results and making general conclusions if possible.
3.1.2 Determining potential Results
In order to determine the potential results that can be obtained for Biblionef, and more
importantly to determine whether it is possible to measure the impact of Biblionef the
contingency framework of Ebrahim and Rangan was used. In order to use the contingency
framework the theory of change and operational strategy of Biblionef have to be determined
first. Throughout this entire research results were frequently discussed and evaluated with Aagje
van Heekeren (director of operations of Biblionef) and Inge de Jager (project coordinator) of
Biblionef. After the first meeting, there was enough information available to make an initial
theory of change and operational strategy which would then be evaluated and corrected by Aagje
van Heekeren and Inge de Jager.
Before actually developing the theory of change and operational strategy, a logic model
was developed to make it easier to differentiate between outcomes and impacts, shown on the
15
next page (table 1). The main inputs of Biblionef are funds, new children books, knowledge and
expertise and supplying systems to start up libraries. Biblionef only sends new children books
because they believe these books have a bigger impact since they increase the beneficiaries’
appreciation for the books. In addition, new children books are also supplied for practical
reasons: the countries they often send books to have climates which cause the books to
deteriorate at a rapid speed. Also important to highlight is the knowledge and technical expertise
input: Biblionef has set up local Biblionefs in countries such as South Africa, Curacao and Aruba.
These local Biblionef’s receive in addition to books also funds from Biblionef NL. The activities of
Biblionef consist of supplying these books, sometimes in local languages and other times in
English. One key condition for supplying books for a beneficiary is that the language of the books
is either an official, local or necessary language of the country. The books of Biblionef are read
and used for story-telling and are also sometimes part of class material. Another activity of
Biblionef is the fact that they help schools set up libraries with books. The outcomes of these
various activities are the stimulation of reading, improvement of school results and children tend
to enjoy school more. These are more short-term or intermediate results.
16
17
Table 1: Logic Model
After addressing the inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes we finally arrive at the
impacts. The impacts mentioned above were anticipated by Aagje van Heekeren and Inge de
Jager. An important impact they both anticipated was the development of a sustainable reading
level. Inge de Jager first emphasized the difference between children learning to read with
newspapers opposed to children learning to read from actual children books. Often if Biblionef
does not send children books, children learn to read from newspapers or other standard class
materials. Using these materials children could potentially lose the ability to read or be unable to
maintain the same quality of reading skills at an older age. This is due to the fact that if children
learn to read words, but do not completely comprehend the meaning of the words yet they have
problems reading later on in life. Thus, an important impact of Biblionef is the fact that they
send children books whose meanings and words children can comprehend and thereby
developing a sustainable level of literacy. In addition, the term functional literacy is used to
describe a potential impact of Biblionef.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines a
functional literate person as “a person who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is
required for effective function of his or her group and community and also for enabling him or
her to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his or her own and the community’s
development”. This definition highlights the possible impact of literacy on overall development,
not only for the individual but for society as a whole. These other impacts are also anticipated by
van Heekeren and de Jager (figure 4). As mentioned in the last chapter, Biblionef is active in
various levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In doing so, Biblionef also has a significant impact
on development. Amartya Sen views development as a process which expands freedoms of
human beings. In fact, Sen argues that the success of a society should be evaluated by the
individual freedoms the members of the society enjoy. This is especially because people who
enjoy various freedoms are also able to achieve various outcomes (Sen, 1999, p. 18). In addition,
Sen distinguishes between functionings and capabilities, where he defines capability as a type of
freedom which allows the individual to achieve valuable outcomes (Sen, 1999, p.75). Literacy
can definitely be characterized as a capability. By being able to read and write, an individual has
greater employment opportunities and can also interact with society on a far greater level. By
improving literacy, Biblionef therefore has various impacts on development.
With all the activities, inputs, outputs and potential impacts outlined, a theory of change
was developed and finally a contingency framework was used to determine the potential results
of a research regarding Biblionef. To represent the theory of change of Biblionef in a
comprehensive manner, a map was made initially adopted from Karen Maas’ research into the
impact of the Netherlands Hearts Foundation. The map of the theory of change of Biblionef
18
illustrates the various relationships between its inputs, outputs and activities. It finally also
indicates possible impacts (figure 4). Specifically, this figure shows how the implementers of
Biblionef anticipate the impacts of the outcomes of their activities. As part of the impact analysis,
the impacts on the following aspects will be tested:
►
Fundamental changes in social norms and attitudes
►
Healthcare and hygiene conditions
►
Future employment prospects of children
►
Functional literacy
►
Sustainable reading level
The + sign indicates the positive relationships between the various activities and outputs. For
instance, the delivery of Biblionef’s children books in native languages could result in children to
improve their native reading skills and benefits their cultural inheritance. There are also (+)
signs in the figure indicating a possible positive relationship between the outcome and impact.
For instance, the increase in cultural inheritance within children could have a possible positive
effect on fundamental changes in social norms and attitudes.
One other important aspect worth emphasizing is the output of “initiatives by individuals
in regions to set up libraries or book projects” shown in the bottom right in figure 4. When a
school or other institution requests books from Biblionef they often tell other neighboring
schools and institutions or they show it on a website and other people hear about it. This results
in others also starting libraries and requesting books. So in other words, there is a type of snowball effect regarding requests being made. Often this snowball effect is the highest in areas where
Biblionef has a large impact such as South Africa. Finally, with this theory of change we can use
the contingency framework established by Ebrahim and Rangan to determine the potential
results of a research for Biblionef.
19
20
Figure 4: Theory of Change Map
Using the contingency framework (figure 2) it is unclear whether a research into
Biblionef could result in impact measurements. The theory of change of Biblionef is fairly
focused; we are able to give a clear overall impact in improving the capabilities of the
beneficiaries. What has not been addressed up till now has been Biblionef’s operational strategy.
Biblionef can be classified as having a very focused operational strategy since they perform two
(closely related) activities: they send new children books or help develop libraries for
beneficiaries. Biblionef’s operations are therefore fairly focused and the relationship between
the activities and the mission is linear. Thus, Biblionef has a very focused operational strategy
and a focused theory of change.
If we take a look at the contingency framework we could therefore conclude that the
research into Biblionef could produce niche results and therefore merely measure outputs and
not impacts. However, the difference between obtaining impacts and only outputs is mostly due
to the ability to measure more integrated and wide results. In other words, as an organization
one has to control and produce results of an entire process, whereas Biblionef is only part of this
larger process of improving the capabilities of children. The school building, school materials
and the teachers are all provided for. Yet by including what factors are available at the various
locations Biblionef sends children books to, it is potentially possible to measure Biblionef’s
individual impact and the conditions necessary for this impact on the improvement of children’s
capabilities. Thus, in the end this research hopes to produce some integrated results and
therefore impact measurements as well.
3.1.3 Data Collection
There are various methods of collecting data to measure the potential impact of a
philanthropic institution such as Biblionef. For the research of Biblionef feedback analysis was
used. As mentioned earlier, Keystone accountability emphasizes the need to publish feedback
from both the beneficiaries and the investors for the implementers. Overall, feedback analysis is
gaining popularity with measuring impacts of philanthropic institutions. In order to obtain
feedback regarding Biblionef’s impact, various interviews were conducted with both
beneficiaries and board members of Biblionef. By using interviews to obtain feedback, one is
able to gather qualitative information regarding the overall impact as well as detailed
descriptions of the conditions available at the beneficiary’s location. Again these conditions are
essential to measure impact at all. Unfortunately, due to privacy reasons, donors could not be
contacted to answer certain questions regarding the impact of Biblionef. However, the board of
Biblionef NL is instead interviewed to still obtain a perspective of intended goals. The following
21
questions were asked to the board members, implementers and beneficiaries of Biblionef (table
2):
Table 2: Interview Questions
Board members, implementers and
beneficiary of Nepal
Beneficiaries of Biblionef Curacao and
Aruba
1. What is impact?
1. How do you use the books of Biblionef?
2. What is the impact of Biblionef?
2. What impact do the books of Biblionef
have on the lives of the children?
3. What are important factors for
optimizing Biblionef’s impact?
3. What would happen if Biblionef no
longer sends books to Curacao?
4. How do you hope to increase the impact
of Biblionef in the future?
The answers to these questions are addressed in the next part. Before doing so, it is
important to note that questions slightly differ between the two groups illustrated above
because the left hand questions were the questions asked first-hand whereas the beneficiaries of
Biblionef Curacao and Aruba were each interviewed by the corresponding agents of Biblionef
Curacao and Aruba. Questions regarding impact were suggested to these agents, and therefore
are only slightly different. Overall, twenty interviews were conducted.
3.2 Defining and Processing Biblionef’s Impact
Due to the lack of quantitative results for Biblionef, analyzing the impact of Biblionef seems more
appropriate than the actual “measurement” of the impact of Biblionef. The exact responses of the
interviews are included in the appendix, however, in this section diagrams are included
summarizing the responses of the board members, implementers and beneficiaries of Biblionef.
The factors for optimizing Biblionef’s impact are analyzed in the next chapter. Instead, this
section will start with the definitions of impact according to various implementers, beneficiaries
and board members. Afterwards, the entire process of creating an impact is illustrated and
finally Biblionef’s impact is analyzed.
22
3.2.1
Defining Impact
Up till now various definitions have been used to define impact varying from the degree of effect,
to social impact. Impact includes all possible effects of an activity on a mid-term and long-term
basis. In addition, impact also involves an effect that is the result of the activity and not an effect
that would have occurred anyway.
Overall, most respondents describe an effect of the project when asked for the impact of
Biblionef (figure 5). Sometimes personal backgrounds are incorporated in someone’s definition
of an impact. For instance, Bjorn Stenvers, board member of Biblionef NL is also the director
marketing of the Amsterdam Historic Museum. When asked for impact he evaluates the brand
value of Biblionef, and in the end defines impact as “creating a dashboard and acting
accordingly”. Creating a dashboard is probably a more marketing approach to creating impact for
Biblionef. Another example includes Inge de Jager: she highlights the sustainable aspect of
impact, which for her is extremely important when determining the eligibility of a project
applicant.
Renee Fuldauer defines impact merely as effects essential for the entire process. In this
case she suggests mere outcomes than actual impacts. This could potentially affect the specific
impacts she describes Biblionef creates. In addition not all beneficiaries were asked to define
impact, thus this could also potentially affect the impacts they describe for Biblionef later on.
23
24
Figure 5: Defining Impact
3.2.2
Process of creating Impact
After defining impact, it is important to illustrate the entire process of actually creating
Biblionef’s impact. The previous figure, figure five, outlines the general organization of Biblionef
and also gives descriptions of various people that were interviewed.
The board of Biblionef supervises the work of the so-called “implementers”, in this case
Aagje van Heekeren and Inge de Jager. The board’s approval is also necessary if the
implementers decide they want to set up a local Biblionef at a new location. Again, it is
important to note that there are other European countries with a Biblionef foundation, for this
reason the impact analysis actually concerns Biblionef Netherlands (NL). Biblionef NL then also
sometimes sets up local Biblionef’s in the countries of beneficiaries. In this case, agents of
Biblionef Curacao and Biblionef Aruba were included in the research and they can also be
regarded as implementers even though they receive books and funds from Biblionef NL. These
local Biblionef’s actually operate quite independently and make their own decisions regarding
the distribution of books to their beneficiaries. Thus, the implementers include Aagje van
Heekeren and Inge de Jager van Biblionef NL and Carla van Eerden, agent of Biblionef Aruba and
Renee Fuldauer, agent of Biblionef Curacao.
The implementers actually have the important task of deciding which applicants are
eligible for Biblionef’s help and what type of books they actually receive. Two important
conditions for Inge de Jager are the motivation of the project applicant and the language of the
location. She tests the motivation of the project applicant by asking specific questions regarding
the school program and also the plan applicants have on how they will use the books. In testing
the motivation of the applicant, she hopes the books (or other help such as setting up a library)
can create the greatest optimal impact (figure 6). In addition, the language is a key factor
whether the applicant will receive any books. Again, to create a significant impact Biblionef must
be able to supply books in either an official language, or a language crucial for the development
of the children. For instance, Biblionef sends Dutch books to Curacao and Aruba and English
books to Nepal.
Renee Fuldauer distinguishes between impacts and needs when allocating the resources
of Biblionef. Even though all beneficiary schools receive a minimum amount of books, she
differentiates when it comes to the level of the books. Private schools in Curacao often offer far
greater guidance and Dutch is the actual language spoken at school. Therefore students at these
private schools have good skills to make effective use of Biblionef’s books. For this reason,
students at private schools are able to read higher level Dutch books. Public schools on the other
hand, often offer less guidance and although officially Dutch is spoken at many schools, in reality
25
both teachers and students use Papiamentu to converse with each other. Consequently, at these
public schools students have fewer skills to make effective use of Biblionef’s books and are
unable to read higher level books. Renee Fuldauer does indeed observe this pattern when
directors, teachers or students of the individual schools come to pick up books—higher level
books are often requested by private schools—while lower level books (including many picture
books) are often requested by public schools. Renee Fuldauer believes higher level books in
combination with a great degree of guidance create a greater impact than lower level books
which do not really help children improve their reading skills. Thus, she distinguishes between
needs and impact when distributing books: she prefers to distribute higher level books to private
schools which offer more guidance.
However, one must be careful to make general conclusions: not all public schools offer
less guidance; in fact the beneficiary schools that were interviewed were mostly public schools
and actually did seem to make good use of Biblionef’s books. Yet overall, there is unfortunately a
difference in terms of guidance and Dutch language use between private and public schools in
Curacao. In order to help both types of schools improve (and especially public schools) Renee
Fuldauer offers trainings to help teachers and parents understand how to effectively use
Biblionef’s books.
26
27
Figure 6: Biblionef’s Process of Creating Impact
Finally, the beneficiaries of Biblionef are addressed. A direct beneficiary of Biblionef NL is
the Namaste Primary School founded by Julia de Zwart. Julia de Zwart also determines the
school’s program and has implemented “practical hours” to make the greatest use of Biblionef’s
English books (figure 6). During these practical hours students learn to articulate and pronounce
English using the books. Thus, books are incorporated in the school program and have a great
impact discussed later on. Julia de Zwart also argues that Biblionef NL should in fact demand
project applicants to incorporate their books in the school program, since if books are only part
of the library she fears the books are not used to their full extent. Instead, students would then
prefer to read the lower level picture books instead of the more advanced books.
Concerning the other beneficiaries of Biblionef Aruba and Curacao interviews were
conducted through Carla van Eerden and Renee Fuldauer. They both requested people to answer
the questions (indicated in table 2) via mail and a few schools responded. Of course, since not all
beneficiaries responded results will be biased because probably the more motivated teachers or
directors will respond to the request. So this fact has to be taken into account when analyzing
these responses. Overall, the teachers make use of the books by including them in the library, as
class and exam material, and sometimes books are used for story-telling. In Curacao books are
also used for “level-reading” allowing students to read according to their own level (or a slightly
higher level, and thereby increasing their own level). Thus, according to these beneficiaries
books are extensively used.
3.3 Biblionef’s Impact
Almost all board members, beneficiaries and implementers answered questions regarding the
impact of Biblionef (table 3). The table is color coordinated (from dark to light) based on the
various functions starting with board members, then implementers and finally beneficiaries. The
various impacts that are tested are given in the different columns. Reading in a sustainable
manner and the functional literacy was categorized as one column since many respondents
discuss both reading and writing skills which are already referred to by the term” literacy”. The
“sustainable reading” level only emphasizes the fact that children learn to read books they
actually understand leading to a functional literacy. Thus, since these two impacts are so closely
related it makes sense to categorize them as one (very) important impact.
With regards to the data collection, the questions concerning impact sometimes
addressed the specific categories of impact and sometimes not. While the in-depth interviews
with the implementers of Biblionef and the beneficiary Julia de Zwart of the Namaste Primary
school give detailed descriptions of the various impacts, the questions for the board and the
other beneficiaries are not that specific. For instance, the different impacts are not specifically
28
asked in the interviews conducted by the agents of Biblionef Curacao and Aruba. This was never
actually communicated and could indeed be a limitation of the research. The answers of these
beneficiaries regarding the impact are very general and did not mention many different impacts.
However, by only asking the general impact of Biblionef, only the most important impact might
be emphasized thereby possibly providing a more complete picture: while the in-depth
interviews highlight the various different impacts, the interviews with the beneficiaries of
Biblionef Aruba and Curacao indicate which impact is regarded as most significant.
Even though the board members of Biblionef are regarded in table 2 as having answered
the same questions as the implementers of Biblionef and Julia de Zwart, the question regarding
the impact was still very specific. The interviews with the board members were conducted via
mail and did not ask the different categories of impact, which the in-depth interviews with the
implementers of Biblionef and Julia de Zwart did allow. However, by asking the general impact of
Biblionef, board members actually offered other interesting insights regarding the impact of
Biblionef.
3.3.1 Category One: Functional Literacy and the Development of a sustainable Reading
Level
Board members
The impacts two board members acknowledge with regards to the functional literacy and the
sustainable reading level are the facts that children enjoy Biblionef’s books and develop their
reading skills. However, whether these reading skills are developed in a sustainable manner is
not included. Thus, the impact of developing functional literacy cannot de deduced from the
board members’ responses.
Implementers
Obviously, the implementers of Biblionef NL discussed all categories of impact and therefore also
specifically discuss Biblionef’s impact on the sustainable reading level and functional literacy of
the beneficiaries. They extensively discuss the fact that the functional literacy increases due to
Biblionef; children learn to read in a sustainable manner because they understand the words
used in Biblionef’s children books instead of reading, for instance, newspapers. According to
Aagje van Heekeren, children also learn, count and write using Biblionef’s books.
The agent of Biblionef Curacao, Renee Fuldauer, acknowledges more an output of
Biblionef rather than the impact on the sustainable reading skills and functional literacy of
beneficiaries. This is maybe due to the fact that she defined impact more as an output than an
29
actual impact. During the interview she found it difficult to argue that children really develop
their skills due to Biblionef’s books because the impact of the books is so different between the
beneficiaries she distributes books to. She does however argue that Biblionef’s children books
lower the threshold to read, and in generally make reading more enjoyable. This is of course very
important in a country such as Curacao where a reading culture does not really exist. Children do
not grow up with reading books at home and therefore the threshold to read books in general
becomes extremely high.
Beneficiaries
Julia de Zwart was the single beneficiary that gave an extensive interview regarding the
different categories of impact of Biblionef. Therefore her response is very useful for analyzing
Biblionef’s impact. Regarding functional literacy and sustainable reading skills, de Zwart
emphasizes the impact of the books on children’s English skills. Children really learn to
articulate and pronounce using the books and their reading skills are definitely developed. The
books are extensively used during classes and therefore it seems fair to assume that the
children’s literacy increases; the children receive extensive guidance and therefore will probably
be able to understand the meaning of the words.
In addition to Julia de Zwart from the Namaste Primary School in Nepal, other
beneficiaries of Biblionef Aruba and Curacao answered questions regarding Biblionef’s impact
on functional literacy and sustainable reading skills. Many emphasize that Biblionef’s books
promote children to enjoy reading, which can be regarded more as an outcome of Biblionef than
a true impact. This could be due to the fact that many beneficiaries interpret impact as being
mere outcomes. However, this outcome could lead to the impact of developing functional literacy
or a sustainable reading level. . In addition a few beneficiaries of Biblionef Curacao describe the
books as being used during “level-reading”. According to Renee Fuldauer, agent of Biblionef
Curacao, this “level- reading” is very common in Curacao. If indeed Biblionef’s books are used in
this manner, children would learn to read in a sustainable manner and thereby improve their
functional literacy. Since in such a case, children understand the meanings of the different words.
Overall
One of the most common facts that was mentioned regarding the reading skills and
functional literacy of beneficiaries was the outcome that Biblionef’s books stimulate children to
read. Since children are able to read books according to their own level, it can be deduced that
these books improve the functional literacy of these children, even though this is not always
directly mentioned as an impact by respondents. Since Biblionef sends children books the
30
meanings of the words used in the books are more easily understood thereby developing the
children’s reading skills in a sustainable manner. Yet again, impacts differ between schools and
even students.
3.3.2 Category Two: Future Employment Prospects of Children
Board members
The future prospects of children were acknowledged by the board members but not specified.
According to Lieke Gaarlandt the children are able to develop more and have a greater chance at
a good future, but what type of future prospects are not specified. However, since she discusses
the impacts of reading it is likely to involve employment prospects.
Implementers
There are actually many future prospects mentioned by the implementers of Biblionef
suggesting that future employment prospects of children are a significant impact. The
implementers of Biblionef NL specifically address the employment effects of developing literacy.
In addition, opportunities and development are increased. Renee Fuldauer emphasizes the
crucial impact of Biblionef on developing the Dutch language of children in creating greater
future employment prospects. First of all, Dutch is the official legal language in Curacao
(Hoefdraad, 2010). In fact, anyone who wants to be active in the civil service sector has to be able
to read and write in Dutch. Third, every year hundreds of students actually decide to complete a
higher education in the Netherlands. In 2010, 291 students left Curacao to complete a higher
education in the Netherlands (NOS, 2010). Thus, whenever beneficiaries of Curacao highlight the
importance of the development of the Dutch language an impact on the prospects of children can
be deduced.
Beneficiaries
Except for Julia de Zwart, none of the beneficiaries specifically mention impacts regarding future
employment prospects, however it is suggested by their other responses. Julia de Zwart argues
that the students at her school have a three to four year advance compared to other students
from public schools in Nepal. This is mostly due to the “practical hours” that use Biblionef’s
books to teach children to read, pronounce and write English. She also gives examples of former
students obtaining successful jobs later on in life.
For the remainder, the other beneficiaries do not directly mention any impacts future
employment prospects of children. However, as mentioned earlier, by developing the Dutch
language skills of students in Curacao, these students have greater future employment prospects.
31
Overall
It is hard to conclude that Biblionef has an impact on future employment prospects when many
beneficiaries did not include it in describing Biblionef’s impact. However, it is important to keep
in mind that these beneficiaries were not answered directly to address the specific categories of
impact. Moreover, some impacts, such as the development of Dutch language skills helps
students with future employment prospects in Curacao.
At the same time, implementers and board members describe various future
employment prospects. It is clear that it is important for children in Curacao to learn Dutch,
which Biblionef books enable them to do. Yet in the end, future employment prospects depend
for a great extent on the skills of the beneficiary. This includes the skills and guidance of the
school as well as the skills of the specific student. Thus it is difficult to distinguish a specific
future employment prospect Biblionef creates.
3.3.3 Category Three: Fundamental Changes in Social Norms and Attitudes
Board members
The board members of Biblionef did not really address this impact. This can be due to the fact
that they do not have a specific beneficiary or country in mind where Biblionef sends books to.
Implementers
The implementers of Biblionef describe various impacts on social norms and attitudes. Aagje van
Heekeren argues that Biblionef has a potential impact on democracy within the donor countries;
however, such an impact would be hard to verify. What both Aagje van Heekeren and Inge de
Jager both emphasize is that Biblionef allows the children to broaden their world through its
books. Children read about topics that they do not encounter in their regular lives. Thus these
books offer them to explore different parts of the world. Inge de Jager also mentions the impact
on cultural inheritance when books are printed in native languages, which occurs at Biblionef
South Africa. However, Biblionef South Africa is not included in this research.
During the interview with Renee Fuldauer she really continued to emphasis the
importance of stimulating children to read since Curacao lacks a reading culture. In doing so,
Biblionef hopefully will contribute to changing social norms with regards to reading books. And
indeed Fuldauer mentions numerous times the fact that Biblionef reduces the threshold to read.
Beneficiaries
32
Another important aspect worth noting is the fact that books that are distributed by Biblionef
Curacao are Dutch instead of Papiamentu and therefore might have an impact on social norms
and attitudes not yet acknowledged by both beneficiaries and implementers. There are people in
Curacao who actually want to return to the native tongue: Papiamentu. In providing Dutch books,
Biblionef might actually be preventing such a fundamental social change. This is of course a very
long term effect, and for children right now it might be wise to learn Dutch, however, in terms of
cultural inheritance reading Papiamentu might be preferred.
Finally, in terms of the other beneficiaries, there are a few beneficiaries of both Curacao
and Aruba that acknowledge similar impacts to the implementers: stimulate to read as well as
broadening the world of the children.
3.3.4 Category Four: Healthcare and Hygiene Conditions
Implementers
Except for Inge de Jager and Aagje van Heekeren this impact was not really brought up by
anyone, suggesting that it is either a very indirect effect or not an important effect. Another
possibility is that actual books concerning a disease, such as AIDS, are distributed mostly in
South Africa and not in the countries included in this research.
3.3.5 Category Five: other Impacts
Board members
The overall impact defined by the three board members of Biblionef included effects on donors,
volunteers and beneficiaries. Dick Boer highlights the impact of Biblionef as a contributing effect
for donors and volunteers: through Biblionef these two groups feel they contribute to a third
world problem. Finally, Bjorn Stenvers definition of Biblionef’s impact involves his personal
marketing background; he describes Biblionef’s impact by stating the brand value and number of
libraries as Biblionef’s impact.
Implementers
The implementers do not really discuss any other impacts besides the categories of impact.
Obviously, Aagje van Heekeren and Inge de Jager thought of the different categories and Renee
Fuldauer, the other implementer, seemed to generally agree with the categories of impact
described by van Heekeren and de Jager.
Beneficiaries
33
The beneficiaries include the emotional impacts in addition to the other impacts. Both children
and supervisors (teachers and reading mothers) enjoy receiving new books and therefore
generally value books more. This in turn stimulates children to read.
Overall
Eventually not many other impacts were included besides the different categories of impacts
anticipated by Aagje van Heekeren and Inge de Jager.
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Table 3: Biblionef’s Impact according to Respondents
Functional
Future
Fundamental
Healthcare
Literacy and the
employment
changes in
and hygiene
development of a
prospects of
social norms
conditions
sustainable
children
and attitudes
Other
reading level
Dick Boer
Children enjoy and
develop reading
skills.
Children develop
in general.
Lieke
Gaarlandt
Children have the
pleasure of reading
a new book.
Child is able to
develop more and
have a greater
chance at a good
future.
Sense of
contributing for
both volunteers
and donors.
Björn Stenvers
Aagje van
Heekeren
Inge de Jager
The value of the
brand Biblionef
and the number
of libraries in the
world.
Children are able
to learn, read,
write and count.
Functional literacy
is increased.
In the long run,
developing the
literacy of children
has far more
impacts on
employment.
Opportunities and
development are
increased.
Children learn to
read in a
sustainable
manner.
Renée
Fuldauer
Biblionef eases the
work of teachers
by providing fun
books.
Biblionef’s books
prevents children
from falling
behind.
Stimulates
children to read;
the threshold to
read becomes
much lower
because books are
enjoyable.
Development of
the Dutch
language is crucial
for future
employment
possibilities.
Developing
literacy also has
potential benefits
for democracy.
Books also
broaden the
world of
children.
Biblionef books
give children a
place in the
world, and the
world a place in
the child.
Developing
literacy has
potential
effects for
health.
Make children
aware of
various health
issues such as
AIDS.
Books printed in
local languages
help children
sustain a cultural
inheritance.
Curacao does not
have a reading
culture, and thus
this social norm
is changed when
fun books are
provided.
35
Julia de Zwart
The books are
really used to teach
children English.
Children learn to
articulate in
English.
Each class learns
to read from these
books.
Yolande Maria
van Erven
Students have a 34 year advance
entering middle
school compared
to students
coming from
public schools.
Former students
have become
journalists or
enjoy other
successful jobs.
Children can read
books of their own
level.
Stimulates
children to read; so
the threshold to
borrow books
decreases.
Anonymous
Promote children
to enjoy reading.
Emotional
impact: children
are extremely
happy to receive
new books.
Have books at all
different levels so
children can enjoy
reading books at
their level.
Monica
Helps children
construct Dutch
sentences.
Stimulates
children to read.
Wil
Stimulates
children to read.
Audrey
Kaysdro
Books help
children advance
their reading.
Emmy
Through books
children
experience
different cultures
and lifestyles.
Students are
extremely happy
when books
arrive.
The “reading
mothers” enjoy to
read the books
for story-telling.
This in turn
stimulates
children to read.
The books are also
very attractive to
read.
Stimulates
children to read.
Helps children
36
develop their
English.
Topics of the books
attract the
children.
Makes classes less
boring.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Probably a big
impact.
It advances the
Dutch language
development and
language in
general.
It stimulates
children to learn to
read and write.
Stimulate the
reading of
children.
Students are
more interested
in books.
Students are
stimulated to
discover more
things.
Anonymous
Anonymous
If children read
frequently the
general reading
level is increased.
Stimulates
children to read
and increase their
reading level.
Anonymous
Anonymous
The books enrich
the lives of the
children.
Curacao does not
have a reading
culture; pretty
books stimulate
children to open
the books.
Students enjoy
reading the books.
But impact
depends on the
student.
37
3.3.6 Concluding Remarks Biblionef’s Impact
To conclude, the category of impact that was given the most weight by all beneficiaries,
implementers and board members was the first category: functional literacy and sustainable
reading level. Of course, a foundation donating books will likely have an impact on reading skills.
More interesting is the fact that the cultural and future prospects were emphasized as well. Most
of the time indirectly but this is also due to the fact that categories of impact were not always
asked directly.
What table three does not show are the different degrees of impact across beneficiaries,
which actually might be the most important conclusion that can be made regarding Biblionef’s
impact. The in-depth interviews with implementers of Biblionef NL and Curacao revealed that
Biblionef is aware of necessary conditions to optimize their impact. Certain conditions, such as a
high degree of motivation of the project applicant are required for Biblionef to distribute
resources to the beneficiary. In addition, Renee Fuldauer clearly distinguishes between different
types of schools when distributing different levels of books. Finally, the interview with the
beneficiary Julia de Zwart revealed how important it is that Biblionef’s books are really
incorporated in the school’s program.
In the end, the ultimate impact Biblionef achieves is very subjective. It is clear that
Biblionef helps develop sustainable reading skills, and these skills in turn can benefit future
prospects and at the same time change certain societal norms. But overall, the most important
conclusion that can be drawn from Biblionef’s impact analysis is actually the fact that there is no
impact that is the same across the board. The fact that in some places a greater impact is
achieved and others maybe not suggests that certain decisions have to be made regarding
resource allocation. Biblionef’s process of creating impact might in fact be more informative than
the actual impact it achieves. In fact, the impact analysis of Biblionef aims to answer the research
question of: what should the allocation of resources of philanthropic institutions (aimed at
higher fundamental needs) be based on in order to optimize impact? Biblionef serves as an
example of a philanthropic institution aimed at higher fundamental needs. Biblionef definitely
has to take into account certain conditions when trying to optimize its impact. These conditions
are outlined in the next chapter of this research.
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Chapter 4 Necessary Factors for optimizing
Biblionef’s Impact
This chapter actually summarizes and evaluates the theoretical knowledge and data
collected regarding Biblionef’s impact. As stipulated in both parts, Biblionef’s optimal
impact is reliant on different conditions or factors. These factors will be outlined in this
chapter. These factors include, language, inherent skills of both students and teachers,
guidance, and the availability of a local organization such as Biblionef Curacao and Aruba.
4.1 Biblionef’s optimal Impact
Before, we tried to define optimal impact and in fact concluded that optimal impact depends on
the resource allocation of the philanthropic institution that is used to create impact in the first
place. By looking at the resource allocation used by Biblionef one can deduce the optimal impact
according to the implementers and beneficiaries of Biblionef. Thus, to determine the optimal
impact of Biblionef, one has to evaluate its resource allocation.
Implementers of Biblionef are aware of the significance of resource allocation in
optimizing impact. Inge de Jager allocates resources based on the motivation of the project
applicant. Meanwhile Renee Fuldauer distinguishes between the different levels of schools when
distributing different levels of books. Specifically, she distinguishes between needs and impact
when optimizing impact. An important beneficiary of Biblionef, Julia de Zwart argues that
Biblionef should actually require project applicants to provide a school program on how they
intend to use the books to optimize impact.
Does this help us answer questions first brought up in the introduction? For instance, is
an optimal impact a greater end result or greater change? If optimal impact would be defined as
the greatest possible change this allows for a situation where resources allocated to people or
children who lag behind could actually create the greatest change and therefore optimize impact.
Looking at Biblionef’s resource allocation it is quite unclear to distinguish between these two
types of impact. In Biblionef’s case, an optimal impact seems to results in the greatest end result
as well as greatest change. Even though Renee Fuldauer distinguishes the different level of books
between the schools, the higher-level books at the private schools seem to create the greatest
change as well as the greatest end result. Thus, the optimal impact is in fact both. Another
question regarding optimal impact was whether impact was optimal if you help a large number
of people but the impact per person is smaller. Even though in the long run Biblionef wants to
39
start up as many libraries worldwide and send as many children books as possible, Biblionef
still requires certain conditions to be in place in order to send books. By requiring certain
conditions, Biblionef does not randomly satisfy every request. Thus, Biblionef tends to focus on
the impact per child instead of how many children are addressed. One could in fact argue that
such an approach is necessary once we address higher level of needs instead of basic needs to
survive.
Thus, Biblionef’s optimal impact can be derived from a resource allocation that results in
both the greatest change and greatest end result. In addition, Biblionef emphasizes the impact
created per child. So looking at factors that optimize Biblionef’s impact, these factors must attain
these goals.
4.1.2 Language
Language is a key condition in deciding whether a project applicant is eligible for aid from
Biblionef. Books must be supplied in either a local language or another necessary language for
the beneficiary’s location. Biblionef receives many requests from Argentina to send books
however, Biblionef lacks Spanish books. Even though all other conditions might be available, and
the project applicant might be extremely motivated, Biblionef will not help the beneficiary set up
a library or buy Spanish books to send to the location. Important to note is that Biblionef NEVER
buys books on project applicants requests. Biblionef maintains a storage of books, and when
many requests have been satisfied they simply buy new books.
The implementers of Biblionef NL actually suspect the English books they send to Nepal
to actually have a smaller impact than for instance Dutch books they send to Curacao where
Dutch is still an official language. Despite the great impact at the Namaste Primary School (one of
the few beneficiaries of Biblionef in Nepal), Biblionef does not observe a true snowball-effect in
Nepal: Biblionef NL often observes a snow-ball effect with regards to project requests: if one
school requests books, others soon follow. However, in Nepal this has not been the case, and
implementers fear this might be due to the smaller impact their books have because they are not
distributed in an official or native language.
4.1.2 Inherent Skills of Students and Teachers
At first sight, allocating resources based on inherent skills of students might seem slightly
unethical. Even though, logically speaking, books in general have a very different impact on
different types of individuals. Again, once philanthropic institutions start focusing on higher level
of needs, other skills of the individuals become crucial as well. An individual does not have to be
40
skilled to make good use of a vaccine or a food package; however the benefits of education in
general vary greatly depending on people’s skills.
The same is obviously the case for Biblionef. Biblionef can send books to children who
cannot read at all, yet without proper guidance these books will not likely be used to its full
extent. Thus, the skills of both teachers and students are crucial for optimizing Biblionef’s
impact. At many public schools in Curacao, teachers are unaware of how to optimize impact
using Biblionef’s books. These teachers do not realize the importance of story-telling and using
the books as class material. Consequently, Biblionef’s books are not used effectively. The same is
true for the students’ skills. Students who do not grow up with the Dutch language, and do not
speak Dutch at school will have problems making effective use of Biblionef’s Dutch books. It will
be hard for them to read higher-level books instead of the easy access picture books. So,
guidance becomes very important for optimizing Biblionef’s impact:
4.1.3 Guidance
The impact achieved at the Namaste Primary School in Nepal may be defined as the optimal
impact that Biblionef could potentially achieve. Not only does this beneficiary achieve probably
the greatest change but also the greatest end result. By really incorporating the books in the
school program and using them effectively during practical hours students can have a three to
four year advanced start compared to students coming from public government schools. In
addition, Julia de Zwart extensively guides and supervises the teachers of the school in order to
provide the optimal guidance to students who come from families living below the poverty level
in Nepal. These students often lack many basic skills, however with the appropriate guidance are
still able to achieve a great impact. Thus proper guidance might even be argued to overcome the
issue of a lack of students’ skills, however, teachers’ skill are still essential for creating an optimal
impact. The proper level of guidance greatly depends on the skills of the teachers. Renee
Fuldauer of Biblionef Curacao clearly defines guidance as a key factor in optimizing impact. Not
only is it a condition on which she relies her allocation of resources, but it is also one of the
reasons she has decided to give trainings at various schools on how to appropriately guide
students with regards to Biblionef’s books.
4.1.4 Local Organization
Finally, one arrives at the final factor: a local organization. With a local organization, we mean
the establishment of an institution such as Biblionef Aruba or Biblionef Curacao. One important
issue Biblionef NL faces when allocating resources is the difficulty of obtaining books in local
languages. In addition, Biblionef NL tries to buy books which correspond to local cultures of the
41
children. One solution Biblionef is trying right now is approaching people who travel to
countries where many beneficiaries are located, and asking them to bring back local books which
Biblionef NL then distributes from its location in the Netherlands. This seems all very time
consuming and not cost effective. If Biblionef has a local organization, the first few years might
cost more than it actually benefits, but after a whiles such a location becomes independent and
starts to print its own books in local languages (Example includes Biblionef South Africa). This
makes it far easier to obtain the necessary number of books in the local languages.
In addition, a local Biblionef allows for Biblionef to supervise projects and evaluate its
impacts they actually have at the various beneficiary locations. In doing so, an organization can
consistently attempt to improve its organization and is closer in touch with beneficiaries’ needs.
In fact, implementers of Biblionef NL are convinced that a local Biblionef creates the optimal
impact.
42
Chapter 5 General Implications and
Conclusions
The impact analysis of Biblionef aims to answer the research question of: what should the
allocation of resources of philanthropic institutions (aimed at higher fundamental needs)
be based on in order to optimize impact? The previous chapter discussed various
conditions necessary for Biblionef to optimize its impact. What general implications and
conclusions can be deduced from this information?
5.1. Impact Analysis Revisited
Impact analysis is a relatively new research technique for measuring the performance of
philanthropic institutions. Impact analysis produces many new benefits not produced by
traditional performance measurement techniques; it focuses, for instance, on the beneficiaries
and long-term effects. This becomes extremely important as philanthropic institutions start to
focus on development instead of only poverty alleviation.
However, by focusing on the beneficiaries and on long-term effects, impact analysis
incorporates many types of conditions that can affect its outcome. By measuring effects over a
longer period of time many other factors can influence the impact of an activity. These factors
then have to be taken into account. In addition, by including beneficiaries’ points of view the
skills of the beneficiaries and the conditions that affect those skills can have an effect on the
impact of an activity. This is especially true when philanthropic institutions focus on
development instead of poverty alleviation. An organization whose main activities are focused
on providing food, shelter or giving vaccinations do not rely on the skills of the beneficiaries.
Healthcare in general may actually have a large impact independent of the skills of beneficiaries.
However, when measuring the impact of philanthropic institutions involved with higher needs
within Maslow’s pyramid, the skills of the beneficiaries become crucial when measuring impact.
In a case where a philanthropic institution’s impact is reliant on these skills it has to
consider the conditions that affect these skills when measuring but also optimizing its impact.
43
5.1.2 Biblionef’s Impact
The research question this paper aimed to answer was: what should the allocation of resources
of philanthropic institutions (aimed at higher fundamental needs) be based on in order to
optimize impact? Within this research, Biblionef provided an example of a philanthropic
institution aimed at higher fundamental needs. One can conclude from the impact analysis of
Biblionef that the first step in answering the research question is determining the optimal
impact for the philanthropic institution.
Looking at Biblionef’s choice of resource allocation, one can infer how the implementers
of Biblionef define an optimal impact. By adopting certain conditions, such as the motivation of
the project applicant, Biblionef clearly prefers an impact that constitutes a greater impact per
child than addressing as many children as possible. Thus, to Biblionef an optimal impact refers to
an impact that creates the greatest end result as well as the greatest change.
However, note that this optimal impact can differ between philanthropic institutions and
thus the answer to the research question will also differ between these institutions. For a
philanthropic institution focused on developing higher fundamental needs, or more importantly
development, it seems sensible to optimize impact by hoping to create a great change per
beneficiary; while aid focused on physiological needs should address as many beneficiaries as
possible, development involves creating sustainable changes. If indeed a philanthropic
institution focused on development defines an optimal impact the same way as Biblionef, the
skills of the beneficiary become very important.
Biblionef’s impact depends on various conditions outlined in the previous chapter. Most
of these conditions all eventually have as goal to develop the skills of beneficiaries. For instance,
by providing sufficient guidance, children develop the skills to make use of Biblionef’s books. In
addition, if teachers are skilled they understand how a child should use the books and teach
them accordingly. Beneficiaries with greater skills will be able to use the resources more
effectively and consequently optimize impact.
The above information leads us to the following answer to the research question:
philanthropic institutions focused on higher fundamental needs, such as Biblionef, should
allocate resources based on skills of beneficiaries.
However, one should be careful with such a conclusion and also highlight the possibility
of helping beneficiaries develop the skills to effectively use the philanthropic institution’s
resources. Since, if philanthropic institutions indeed allocate resources based on skills of
beneficiaries, their resources might not always reach those beneficiaries most in need. In fact,
44
looking at Biblionef Curacao, many higher level books are distributed to private schools where
students probably need these books less than students in public schools. This is also an
important issue to take into account when considering donors, which unfortunately highlights
one of the most important limitations of this research: the lack of donor information.
5.2.1
Limitations of this Research
An important limitation of this research is the lack of a donor’s perspective. Especially once
philanthropic institutions start making judgments regarding resource allocations and optimizing
impact, the perspective of the donors becomes very important. For instance, if philanthropic
institutions aimed at higher needs start allocating resources to those beneficiaries less in need,
but yet able to create the greatest impact, donors might decide that this is not the initial reason
they contributed to the cause. In such a case, the philanthropic institution must decide what is
most important.
Other limitations of this research of course include the lack of quantitative data to
support certain claims made by implementers and beneficiaries. For instance, Julia de Zwart
argues that her students have a three to four year advanced start to public school students
entering middle school. It would have been very interesting to verify such a claim through
quantitative data. The interviews could also have been approached in a more quantitative
manner by asking respondents to rank certain categories of impact. This would have made the
results more comparable and reliable.
In addition, other limitations included the small scope of the research and the differences
in interview questions causing results to be less comparable.
5.2.2 Further Research
An important question that should be addressed is: what can Biblionef do in the future to
both measure and optimize its impact? First of all, Biblionef could choose to use a randomized
experiment to measure its impact. A randomized experiment for Biblionef could include
randomly selecting schools in developing countries, sending those schools books and comparing
them to other schools nearby that do not receive the books. Of course, not all schools are the
same and certain factors will have to be controlled for and the experiment should be replicated
at many schools in order to provide reliable results (Trochim, 1996). However, using this
research method, Biblionef could potentially obtain quantitative results and in addition measure
its impact over a longer time frame. Secondly, using these results, Biblionef could clearly observe
at which schools they create the largest impact and distribute resources accordingly. In doing so,
Biblionef could potentially optimize its impact.
45
Finally, one of the beneficiaries, Julia de Zwart, argued that Biblionef should require that
its books are incorporated during classes. Thus, whenever a project applicant requests books
from Biblionef, instead of only testing the motivation of the project applicant, Inge de Jager could
require the applicant to give a detailed plan on how the books will be incorporated in class. Such
a requirement could definitely help Biblionef optimize its impact, and should definitely be
considered when allocating resources.
There are a few other important general issues this research highlights that can be
addressed by further research. First of all, are there really these different categories of impact
philanthropic institutions experience? Is it in fact true that philanthropic institutions focused
more on development indeed experience different degrees of impact? In doing so, a very
important issue would be the issue of weighting the different degrees of impact.
Secondly, if indeed philanthropic institutions focused on higher fundamental needs start
measuring impact and realizing their optimal impact depended to a great extent on beneficiaries’
skills- will different beneficiaries really be targeted? Or will there be an increase in developing
skills first, before distributing resources? How will donors respond? These are all important
questions that will hopefully be addressed by future research.
5.3. Final Conclusion
This research probably asks more questions than it answers. It will be very interesting to see
how impact analysis will evolve and whether philanthropic institutions’ resource allocations will
consequently evolve as well.
46
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48
Appendix
Interviews with Board Members of Biblionef NL:
Interview
Background
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors for optimizing
Biblionef’s impact?
How do you hope to increase the impact of
Biblionef in the future?
Dick Boer
Dick Boer is secretary of the board of Biblionef
NL.
Influence or effect of an act.
1.
Biblionef has impact on the children in
the target areas who now have the
opportunity to read a book: they enjoy the
pleasures of reading; they can develop in
general, etc.
2.
Biblionef also has impact on all the
people involved with Biblionef: volunteers,
donors, etc. These people have a sense of
contributing to providing a remedy for a
(Third World) problem.
3.
Biblionef finally has impact on
everyone who has heard about the foundation
but are not included in part 2: these people
realize that Biblionef contributes to a (Third
World) problem in a meaningful way.
1. Make more books available.
2. Greater publicity for the name, goals and
activities of Biblionef.
To take care of the administrative conditions
in order to attract more funds so that Biblionef
can donate more books.
Interview
Lieke Gaarlandt
Background
Lieke Gaarlandt is a board member of
Biblionef NL.
Influence, scope and effect.
The impact of Biblionef is not measurable.
Despite this, it is generally assumed that by
increasing the skill and pleasure of reading,
the child is able to develop more and have a
greater chance at a good future (if other
factors do not get in the way). Thus, the work
that Biblionef performs definitely seems
useful.
Another effect is, eventhough a short-term
effect, is the pleasure of receiving a new book.
Important factors that increase the impact of
Biblionef are factors that help send as many
books as possible, and in order to do so, the
organization must grow. So Biblionef needs to
attract more funds to realize more
establishments, to become more professional
and to attract more people.
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors for optimizing
Biblionef’s impact?
49
How do you hope to increase the impact of
Biblionef in the future?
The difficulty is to generate funds and that
highlights another important aspect of the
word impact: the impact on the Dutch society.
Uptill now this does not seem very large.
Biblionef is only a small foundation among the
numerous foundations in the Netherlands, and
thus has little impact in the Netherlands.
If Biblionef would be more well-known the
impact could improve and thereby attract
more funds.
Interview
Background
Björn Stenvers
Bjorn Stenvers is a board member of Biblionef
NL. He is also the director marketing of the
Amsterdam Historic Museum.
Impact is a very broad concept. You can
approach impact in various ways; you can
evaluate the media value (communication/ pr
rankings), the size of the company or the
value of the brand, etc. For me impact, is the
creation of a dashboard and acting
accordingly. In the next stage you can evaluate
the dashboard and make changes if necessary.
The value of the brand, the number of
libraries in the world, number of book
shipments, media value (part of brand value)this last value is the most important for
obtaining funds.
By increasing the abovementioned factors.
And by letting Beerda measure the brand
value of Biblionef. And especially make
everything happen and create results.
My added value is evaluating and advising on
steps to undertake to increase the
abovementioned factors.
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors that can
optimize the impact of Biblionef?
How do you hope to increase the impact of
Biblionef in the future?
50
Interviews with implementers:
Interview
Background
Organization
Goals of the organization
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors for optimizing
the impact of Biblionef?
How do you hope to increase the impact of
Biblionef in the future?
Interview
Background
Aagje van Heekeren
Aagje is the director of Biblionef NL. She
therefore directs all the operations of
Biblionef, and travels to different project
locations throughout the year.
Biblionef NL distributes new children books to
schools and organizations for children.
Biblionef NL also helps set up libraries at their
project locations. Books are mostly donated or
bought from English children’s book
publishers, and sometimes books are printed
or bought locally.
Helps the development of children in less
developed areas in the world who have hardly
any access to information and adequate
reading materials.
You have a certain goal in mind and you have
resources to get there.
The measurement whether you attain that
goal in a successful way, indicates the
impact. If the way you approach things has a
positive influence on the goal, then that is the
impact.
Children are able to learn, read, write
and count by having access to reading
materials. And in the long run these basic
skills have far more impact on employment,
health, democracy, etc . The books also
broadens the world of the children.
We find it important that
we donate children’s books that correspond to
the culture of the children. That means also
donating books in their mother tongue and
African stories, that children can relate to. In
addition, the skills of teachers are essential in
order for the books to have optimal impact.
For the most optimal impact a local Biblionef is
necessary. They can give training to the
teachers on how to use the books well, and
also gather and distribute resources on
location. We would also like to have
more books in native languages. And we can
still improve the way we test the motivation of
the project applicant and train the people
using the books.
Inge de Jager
Inge de Jager is project coordinator of
51
Organization
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors for optimizing
the impact of Biblionef?
How do you hope to increase the impact of
Biblionef in the future?
Biblionef Netherlands. One of her main task is
to allocate Biblionef’s books among the
beneficiaries.
Biblionef Nederland (NL)
Biblionef NL buys (discounted) books from
Penguin and stores these books for
beneficiaries. When requests are made, Inge
evaluates the requests and determines
whether the project will receive books from
Biblionef. Biblionef NL supplies Dutch, English
and sometimes Spanish books. At their
location in South Africa, Biblionef NL also
funds the printing of children books in native
languages and distributes these books among
beneficiaries. Biblionef NL also helps set up
libraries at project locations.
The sustainable effects of a project.
We teach children to read in a sustainable
manner. In other words, their functional
literacy is increased and thereby their
opportunities and development as well. In
addition Biblionef’s books give children a
place in the world and the world a place in
them (emphasizes quote Astrid Lindgren). We
also have various health projects which make
children aware of health issues such as AIDS.
Finally, Biblionef South Africa actually prints
books in the local language allowing children
to sustain part of their cultural inheritance.
When I receive requests for books, the most
important factor I look at is the motivation of
the applicant. How much does the applicant
know about the school, and does he/she have
a plan on how they will use the books? I try to
determine the answers to these questions
before I send any books.
In addition, we try to buy different reading
level books so that children can really develop
their reading level through the books.
We also prefer to work together with other
foundations at the project location.
And finally, we really believe that a local
Biblionef has the largest possible impact. In
the first 5-10 years, the local Biblionef is
If we gain greater access to the international
book depot we can have a far greater impact.
We are also trying to buy more books in the
native language of the projects. Right now we
are busying with asking people who travel to
developing countries to bring back books
which we then distribute between our
different projects.
And then finally, the ideal way to create the
greatest impact is a local Biblionef.
52
Interview
Background
Country Profile
Organization
Goals of the organization
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors for optimizing
the impact of Biblionef?
Renée Fuldauer
Renee Fuldauer is an agent of Biblionef
Curaçao. She receives many Dutch books from
Biblionef. She stores these books and
distributes them between the schools.
The official languages in Curacao are
Papiamentu, Dutch and English. There are in
total fifty-three FO (funderend onderwijs)
schools at Curaçao; five of them do have Dutch
as official instruction language. Besides these
schools, there are a few private schools in
Curacao that are Dutch. At most schools in
Curacao class materials are Dutch as students
enter middle or high school. However, in
reality teachers and students speak
Papiamentu among themselves at the schools.
Only the private schools are really Dutch.
Biblionef Curacao Biblionef distributes books
to both public and private schools. The
Biblionef books are all Dutch (only some
English) and there is a sufficient amount so
that all schools can receive enough books.
Renee Fuldauer has started distinguishing
between needs and impact. “I think the books
have great impact on motivation and
stimulation of reading”.
I would define impact as the general effect. If
something has a big impact it is essential for
the entire process.
The impact of Biblionef is that it stimulates
children to read. The threshold to read is much
lower because the books are fun to read. In
addition, Biblionef books prevent students
from falling behind. We do not have a reading
culture in Curacao and the fact that Biblionef
can provide many new and fun books in an
inexpensive manner eases the work of
teachers and others who find reading essential
for good education.
It is also important for children to learn Dutch
since this is an important official language
used in Curacao and will be crucial for future
employment possibilities.
Finally, I do observe a difference between the
impact at private and public schools. There is
big difference between these two types of
schools. Whereas the level of the private
schools is comparable to schools in the
Netherlands and students receive far more
guidance, the level of the public schools is
much lower. At the public schools students
receive far less guidance because there are not
53
How do you hope to increase the impact of
Biblionef in the future?
sufficient books in their native language
Papiamentu. The teachers of the public
schools tend to choose easy books such as
picture books. I anticipate this and also
distribute books according to this pattern. So
private schools get far higher level books from
which students really improve their reading
skills, and the public schools get a large
number of books (in the hope to still have
some impact) but these books are mostly
picture books. Because the books have a
greater impact at private schools Thus with
distributing books I do distinguish between
needs and impact. I also give trainings. At
private schools it is far easier to create impact
from the books. For this reason I give trainings
at public schools how to use the books, and
this is often a real eye-opener.
I hope to increase the impact of the books by
giving workshops and trainings in which I
explain how to effectively use the books to
help children read.
54
Interviews with Beneficiaries
Interview
Background
Organization
What is impact?
What is the impact of Biblionef?
What are important factors for optimizing
Biblionef’s impact?
How do you think Biblionef can increase its
impact in the future?
Julia de Zwart
Julia de Zwart has been active in Nepal for 12
years and six years ago founded a primary
school in Nepal for 100-130 children. The
school is for children whose parents live below
the poverty level. Every year she travels to her
school to ensure that her policies are
implemented and that the school performs
well.
The school is named Namaste Primary School
and is located in Pokhora. It is funded by the
foundation Nameste Nepal founded by Julia.
The school has all the required school
materials and a big library and kitchen.
Biblionef supports the school by supplying
children books. Six years ago Biblionef
supplied 160 books, and after that sent books
every year. The local language in Nepal is
Nepali but because tourism is so important in
Nepal, students are taught English.
The power that it creates.
It first of all broadens the world of the
children.
Secondly, I really use the books to teach the
children English. Students of my school have a
3-4 year advanced start compared to students
coming from primary government schools. In
fact, my students used to be able to skip a few
years once they entered middle school. And I
speak to former students and some of them
have become journalists or have other
successful jobs.
I ensure that there are daily “practical hours”
where each class learns to read from the
books. Children learn to articulate and
pronounce English because of the books of
Biblionef.
However, I do believe that Biblionef only has a
real impact if their books are incorporated in
the school program. If children only read the
books in their free time, the picture books are
only used and books do not have a big impact.
So the skills of the teachers are absolutely
essential for an optimal impact.
I definitely think that Biblionef should really
select projects based on how they use the
books. Again books should be part of the
school program and Biblionef should actually
require that teachers provide effective
guidance to the students. Biblionef could ask
teachers to send a specific plan illustrating
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how they will use the books.
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Curacao?
Interview
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
Yolande Maria van Erven
Director of a VSBO (Voorbereidend Secundair
Beroeps Onderwijs) school: direction care and
administration. The name of the school is
Ancilla Domini and it is a Dutch school.
Students receive study and social guidance.
The school is one of the beneficiaries of
Biblionef Curacao.
Books are supplied to the school library.
Thereby all students are able to read, since not
everyone is able to go to the public library.
Books are also used in class to improve the
reading skills of students.
By stimulating every child to read, the
threshold to borrow books is decreased. The
children can then also read books of their own
level. The level of books is definitely
considered when we pick up books at
Biblionef.
Then schools can no longer expand or renew
their libraries since they do not have the
financial abilities to do so.
Anonymous
I use the books for the first two classes of
primary school to:
Stimulate the reading of Dutch
books.
Use it for a book-analysis
Help children construct Dutch
sentences
This is because children of Curacao do not
come into contact with the Dutch language a
lot. Only at school they use little Dutch, but for
the remainder Dutch is not spoken in their
environment. Only in books, students really
get offered good Dutch sentence constructions.
The students enjoy reading new books. So the
books of Biblionef promote children to enjoy
reading. The advantage is that you have books
at all different levels. So all the children can
read books.
The main impact of the books is that it helps
the students develop their Dutch. In addition,
the books have an emotional impact because
the children are extremely happy when they
receive new objects or in this case, read new
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What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Curacao?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Curacao?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Curacao?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
books.
The students would no longer be able to read
new books. Since buying new books at a
bookstore is too expensive. In addition the
variety of the books would be far smaller.
Without Biblionef we would have old books
that no one would enjoy to read.
Monica
Monica is a teacher at the J.F. Kennedy school
in Curacao. The J.F. Kennedy is a Dutch school
and is a school for children learning difficulties
(LOM).
We use the books especially for “level-reading”
classes.
The children are extremely happy when the
new books arrive and the new books really
stimulate the children to read.
In that case we would not have any books for
our “level-reading” classes.
Wil
Wil is a teacher at the Prinses Margrietschool
in Curacao. The Prinses Margrietschool is a
located in one of the poor neighborhoods in
Curacao.
The books of Biblionef are used on Wednesday
and Thursday during a reading hour with
reading-supervisors at our school. And books
are also part of the library at the school.
For the children of the Prinses Margrietschool
books are very important. Through books they
experience different emotions, cultures and
lifestyles.
The books broaden the children’s’ world.
It is also fun for the “reading mothers” to
regularly read new books. Since the mothers
enjoy reading the books, this stimulates the
children to continue reading.
Then the Prinses Margrietschool would not be
able to have many books. Especially because
the climate in Curacao only allows books to
remain in a good condition for a limited
amount of time. Thus, regularly replacing
books is necessary.
Audrey Kaysdro
Audrey Kaysdro is from the Dodo Palm school.
I use the books at school. The children really
make good use of them. I also use them for
57
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Curacao?
Teacher
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Curacao?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
group-reading. The higher classes also use the
books as resources for presentations. I also
have a library in the classroom with several
books of Biblionef that the children may
borrow. We also use the books for reading
sessions.
Very simple, the books help them advance
their reading. The books are often fun and the
children enjoy reading them. The books are
very attractive to children.
I would really hate that because I make good
use of the books. I paid most of the books out
of my own pocket, because that little amount I
am able to pay for really good children books.
In the bookstore they are so expensive that I
can’t buy them. That would be a real pity.
Emmy
English teacher who teaches at Marnix, A.
Sweitzer, Divi and Emmy Berthold school. In
total she teaches to 550 students.
The books that I buy from Biblionef I use for
classes of grades 7 and 8 of the different
schools I teach at. Besides that, I use the books
for homeschooling. The children really like the
attractive books because of the colorful
pictures and children soon read another book.
The books are very informative and after the
children read the books they have to answer
ten questions about the content of the books.
They have to answer with complete and
concise English sentences.
The impact is that it helps cheer up the classes
because the regular schoolbooks are a bit
boring and these books provide a fun addition.
In addition, the topics of the book really attract
the children.
If no books would arrive then this would be a
real pity. In that case I would have to return to
teaching from boring black-and-white books
which have been copied and are less attractive.
Anonymous
This person teaches at Colegio Arubano which
is a havo/vwo school. Colegio Arubano is a
Dutch school.
They are in the library of the school. Some
books are also used during classes and are
part of exam material.
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What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
I haven’t done any research yet, but probably a
big impact because it is not easy to get books.
It would be really bad because many schools
have a small budget that is not enough to buy
books.
Interview
Background
Anonymous
This person is from the Fontein Kleuterschool
(nursery school).
The books are used as educational resources.
The books are used by the kindergartenteachers for story-telling, reading aloud and
when they work with certain themes.
The toddlers also use them in the reading
corner.
It advances the Dutch language development
and language development in general. And it
stimulates the students to learn to read and
write.
If Biblionef no longer sends books to Aruba
then the students will start to lag behind with
their language development in general and
their Dutch language development. Without
Biblionef books there will be a lack of school
materials. Because these books are used in
such an enthusiastic manner, this project
should definitely be continued.
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
Anonymous
This person is from the Rayo di Solo nurseryschool.
The books are also part of the library. The
students cannot borrow the books but the
books are used by the students and
kindergarten teachers to discuss certain
themes. In addition, books are also used in the
classes.
The books are used to stimulate the reading of
children. The students are more interested in
books and stimulated to discover more things.
We would hate it if Biblionef would stop
sending books. And if that happens are library
will be empty in a couple of years.
Anonymous
Reina Beatrix primary school.
For the class-libraries. Every class has a small
library. The books are also used during classes.
Enriching. The books help students to improve
their reading. If the children read frequently,
59
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
Interview
Background
How do you use the books of Biblionef?
What impact do the books of Biblionef have
on the lives of the children?
What would happen if Biblionef no longer
sends books to Aruba?
the general reading level is definitely
increased.
Less books for reading-education.
Anonymous
St. Anna primary school.
The books of Biblionef are used during the
classes and are part of the library. Classes
borrow books from the library once a week.
Children further borrow and read books at a
level that is just above their actual level. (in
order to improve). The books are also used for
presentations.
The books stimulate students to read and
increase their reading level.
This would result in an impoverishment of our
library.
Anonymous
Paulusschool is a primary catholic school.
Books that are used for “level reading” are
immediately borrowed by the different classes.
Other books are part of the library.
Children do not enjoy reading. Because the
books look so pretty children still open the
books to look at the nice pictures. If they get
bored they quit reading.
Then the process of rejuvenation of the library
is stopped. There will no longer be a budget to
buy new books.
Anonymous
This contact person is from the Mon Plasir
College.
The books are used in the library. They are
also used as part of the classes. Books are
borrowed on a weekly basis.
They enjoy reading the books. But the impact
depends on the student: on some students it
has a greater impact than on others.
Then there would be less books.
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