Partnering to End
Early Grade Illiteracy
globalbookalliance.org
250 Million Children
Lack Basic Reading Skills.
The Global Book Alliance
wants to make it zero.
The lack of well-written, level-appropriate books in languages
children understand, as well as materials to aid instruction, are
substantial factors contributing to high levels of illiteracy in early
grades. The roadblocks to accessing books and learning aids
are multifaceted, and include book development, procurement,
distribution and use.
To solve the global illiteracy crisis, we must
address the roadblocks of availability and
distribution head on.
The challenge of ensuring every child has access to high-quality
books and reading materials is not one that any single institution
can meet alone.
That’s why the Global Book Alliance partners have come together
to end early grade illiteracy.
Table of Contents
Our Approach:
Our unique solution guarantees
books for every child....................... 2
Why Books?............................................. 4
Our Solution:
Transforming the supply
of reading materials............................5
Path to Implementation..............20
Success Story:
Early literacy in Kenya.....................21
Get Involved.......................................... 25
About Us:
Our partnership.................................. 26
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Our Approach
Our unique solution guarantees
books for every child
Schools and communities
continue to have an inadequate
supply of early grade reading
materials, despite decades of
government and development
partner funding.
Our approach is different. We
recognize the problem is too
big to solve alone.
The Global Book Alliance was
founded as a partnership
of donors, multilateral
organizations, governments,
non-governmental
organizations, and the private
sector.
Through this partnership, we
leverage the best practices
of other industries such
as science, health, and
technology, to focus on a
single mission: Ending early
grade illiteracy worldwide.
globalbookalliance.org
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If students in low-income countries could read,
171 million people would be lifted out of poverty.
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Why Books?
Why Books?
Reading is a game-changer.
It is the fundamental skill for
all subsequent learning and
professional development.
Without basic literacy, children
cannot go on to learn math,
science and other subjects.
In many countries, more than
50% of students can’t read a
single word even after several
years of school. Why? Because
learning to read requires texts,
and teaching is difficult without
proper materials.
Access to reading materials
can be the single greatest
factor of literacy. According
to a study by the World
Bank Operations Evaluation
Department: “Textbooks and
learning materials show the
highest incidence of impact
for improving primary school
outcomes in many developing
countries.”
The presence of textbooks and
reading materials is directly
associated with improved
student achievement in
developing countries. Investing
in books improves learning,
and improved learning leads to
poverty reduction and a safer,
more secure world.
Providing students who have no reading
materials with just ONE book can improve
achievement by as much as 20%.
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Our Solution
Transforming
the supply of
reading materials
The Global Book Alliance
will transform the supply
of reading materials by
addressing issues related to
each linkage along the supply
and procurement book chain.
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
The Six Steps of the Supply and
Procurement Book Chain
Procurement
Access
Development
Supply Chain Management
& Distribution
Use
Monitoring &
Evaluation
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Our Solution
Development
Well-written, level-appropriate reading
materials are difficult to find in many
children’s mother tongues.
The Global Book Alliance collaborates with
reading programs and seeks to strengthen global
and country-level partnerships that engage more
people in the production of high quality books in
multiple languages.
Global Book Alliance partners are supporting
software that allows authors to write books for
children more easily and to create versions of
books to use across different languages and
cultural contexts.
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Our Solution
Access
Existing books are difficult to find.
We promote global, digital libraries that expand
access to content by providing open licensed,
downloadable materials that allow sharing,
electronic use and large scale printing. These
digital libraries also link to other sources for those
materials.
Global Book Alliance partners of the All Children
Reading Grand Challenge for Development
and the Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation have compiled examples of such
“digital libraries” at: allchildrenreading.org/digitallibraries
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Our Solution
Procurement
Book availability is limited, quality varies
and costs are high.
We partner with experts in resource mapping,
donor coordination, gap analysis and improved
procurement processes. This decreases unit costs,
and increases quality as well as the predictability
of book supplies. These partnerships ensure that
millions more quality books will be available for
purchase or through on-site printing or digital
outlets at lower costs.
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Our Solution
Supply Chain
Management &
Distribution
It’s difficult for many countries to
ensure a steady, predictable supply
of affordable books.
To ensure children receive the right books at the
right time, our partners are focused on strategic
planning, better ordering, improved distribution
and effective tracking systems. They also support
intentional district and school-level
stock management.
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Our Solution
Use
Books are not always used effectively by
teachers, students, families and communities.
Partners not only work with local organizations,
schools and governments to promote an ongoing
supply of books--they also coordinate with
teacher education efforts to ensure that teachers
receive the training they need to help children
learn to read.
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Our Solution
Monitoring &
Evaluation
It is difficult to know what activities are
effective in getting books to the children
that need them.
Effective monitoring, evaluation and research
inform all components of book development,
procurement, distribution and use. We are
committed to establishing new standards to
measure the effectiveness of the GBA partnership
and distribution system.
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
globalbookalliance.org
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“One child, one teacher,
one book, one pen can
change the world.”
— Malala Yousafzai
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Path to Implementation
The Global Book Alliance is currently taking a variety of actions that address issues along each step
of the supply and procurement book chain. We are:
NN Determining global and country-level processes and
support to ensure effective and broad participation in
the Global Book Alliance.
NN Inventorying existing decodable and leveled titles in
languages of interest and analyzing gaps.
NN Stimulating title production through various means such
as software, crowdsourcing, contests, workshops and
more.
NN Developing a digital repository of downloadable
NN Supporting the use of open licensing.
NN Determining appropriate financing and market shaping
interventions to stimulate demand and production and
decrease costs.
NN Developing standards for the development, publishing
and printing of reading materials for instruction and
practice.
NN Developing improved approaches to supply chain
management.
materials--a “global library” that will have uploading/
downloading functionality for print or electronic use.
NN Developing agreements with publishers for the
versioning of copyrighted titles in underserved
languages.
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Success Story
Spreading Early Literacy in
Northern Kenya
“No words can describe how it
feels to see pupils who could
hardly read become fluent
readers,” explains Ibrahim
Dakane, a teacher from Wajir
County in the mostly arid and
semi-arid areas of northern
Kenya. The lowest literacy rates
persist in communities largely
inhabited by nomadic people.
Even though primary school
enrollment rates have
increased across the country,
attendance does not always
21
Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
translate to improved literacy
skills. Partners of the Global
Book Alliance collaborated
with Kenya’s Ministry of
Education, Science and
Technology to develop and
implement the Tusome (Let’s
Read) Early Grade Reading
activity. Literacy is one of the
skills to help people break
out of the cycle of poverty. By
providing books to each pupil
and teacher in both English
and Kiswahili, educators can
use more innovative teaching
“No words can
describe how it
feels to see pupils
who could hardly
read become
fluent readers”
Ibrahim Dakane, Teacher
Wajir County, Northern Kenya
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“I could hardly read more than a couple
English and Kiswahili words at the time I
joined Class 1. I had limited access to books;
we were many in class and had to share the
few books available. At home, my parents
could not provide much support to improve
my reading, writing and speaking skills
because they never attended school.”
Mohammedamin Osman, 7 Years Old
Class 1 pupil at Dambas Primary School in Wajir County, Northern Kenya
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
Success Story
methods, and school administrators
can foster a more sustainable
system for consistent and effective
instruction and leadership. Kenya’s
Tusome activity is making an impact.
“Improving learning outcomes in
early literacy is one of the ways to
ensure the future of Kenya’s young
generation is bright,” explains
Teacher Ibrahim.
To date, Tusome has distributed
more than 7.8 million English and
Kiswahili books in all 47 counties
across Kenya. “The joy of any
teacher is to empower more pupils
to achieve their potential,” notes
Teacher Ibrahim.
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Get Involved
No one entity can conquer early grade illiteracy--we all must work together to achieve our
mission: that children everywhere have the books and learning materials they need to learn to
read. The Global Book Alliance relies on current and new partnerships with:
• Governments
• Donors
• Communities
• Publishers
• Educators
• Authors
• Private Sector
• Schools
• Civil Society
• Universities
Are you ready to help provide books for every child? Contact us to learn about
partnership opportunities: [email protected]
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Partnering to End Early Grade Illiteracy / Global Book Alliance
About Us
Our Partnership
The challenge of ensuring every child has access to high-quality books and reading materials is not
one that any single institution can meet alone. The Global Book Alliance is a partnership between
donors, multilateral organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations and the private
sector committed to ending early grade illiteracy.
For the most up to date list of partners, visit: globalbookalliance.org
globalbookalliance.org
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Our Mission
To guarantee that children
everywhere have the books
and learning materials they
need to learn to read.
globalbookalliance.org