Global Digital Platform for Local Language Children's Books

We will implement a digital platform of high-quality children's books and produce videos to train book creators and teachers on best practices of developing and utilizing those books in classrooms. We will work with Ministries of Education to disseminate digital and print books, with an emphasis on reaching disadvantaged communities.

UNESCO reports that illiteracy limits the full development of an individual and his or her participation in society. It has repercussions throughout life, affecting a person’s family environment, limiting economic opportunities, restricting access to other benefits and lowering health outcomes. Because literacy is the foundation for all future learning, Room to Read focuses on helping young children in disadvantaged communities to develop the skills and habit of reading. 

Our theory of change is rooted in a research-based design, optimized for  public school systems that integrate reading instruction and curricular materials with libraries, which offer children culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate reading materials. Initiatives that are focused on both reading skills and the habit of reading, when coupled with a supportive environment, can result in sustained improvement in children’s reading levels. Our Literacy Program model, complemented with appropriate technology, will extend our reach, providing enhanced access through digitization and mass distribution of children's books to transform children’s literacy capabilities at scale. 

Without the ability to read, children cannot develop critical thinking skills and become engaged global citizens to help end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all people. Literacy makes education — and the rest of life — more democratic, by providing pathways for children to be proactive in their lives and to defend themselves with knowledge. We have a scalable literacy learning approach that can be implemented in public schools to successfully extend children’s rights beyond access alone; we can provide the kind of education that gives children opportunities and tools for creativity and success.

Room to Read Book Publishing as well as Monitoring and Evaluation teams track progress and completion - Implement a platform that provides underserved communities with access to digitized local language children's book and videos

Receive user information through digital platform data analytics - Digitize a portion of our 1000+ local language children’s books, providing thousands of children access to high-quality reading materials (number TBD based on funding level)

We track progress by country and receive user information through data analytics. Please note this video project will have impact across Room to Read's portfolio of 14 countries. - Create professional development videos (number TBD) to train teachers and children's book creators

Educational gains at early ages can exponentially improve children's chances of becoming actively engaged citizens. Our innovation to digitize high quality local-language content at scale is lacking, especially for children in remote regions.This content includes both Room to Read-developed literacy training materials for teachers in video format and more than one thousand Room to Read unique children's books. We excel at developing high quality content in local languages, which has been integrated in public schools across 20,000 communities. Providing these in digital format would significantly enhance the quality and number of children's books accessible in local languages. 

Our solution is designed through a collaboration of our global and country-based (i.e. local nationals) teams and technology partners. The program design has benefited from learnings gathered from local communities over 16 years, delivered through a child-centric model and in an environment that speaks to early readers’ needs, interests, and learning styles. Examples of human-centric design include feedback loops within training materials where we gather feedback from educators and administrators; teacher advisory committees that contribute to curriculum development; and field testing with children to revise content before finalization of new children's book manuscripts. 

Room to Read has 1000+ titles from our countries of operation from which relevant titles could be adapted and digitized to provide children with increased access to high-quality stories. The  platform will be open source and adapted to support the dissemination and creation of digital storybooks. In addition, Room to Read's platform will also have a video resource component that will offer high-quality video content for training teachers and children's book creators on areas that support students with reading activities in the classroom and libraries.

Room to Read has been operating as a nonprofit since 2000 and to date, we have reached over 11.5 million children across our countries of operation. During our next phase of strategic growth, we are looking to scale our literacy solutions in order to reach more children, faster. Support through SOLVE would allow Room to Read to implement the use of technology, bringing children's books to life and training educators through videos to ensure they are maximizing engagement with their students. As this project expands and the ongoing needs are scoped, Room to Read would use the data and outcomes from this project to seek additional funding from its broad base of private investors, as needed. We are one of the fastest growing educational non-profits globally and are confident in our ability to maintain this system. 

We always want to secure local commitment (e.g. government, communities) and ensure that we are not competing with other interventions, but are complementing existing programs and adding value. To work in government schools (establishing libraries and distributing children's books), we require formal agreements such as a Memorandum of Understanding to establish clear goals, roles and responsibilities, and expectations. In order to be successful with our digital platform, we will need to translate our success with printed children's books into digital format, as well as develop and implement delivery systems that allow for broad access in under-served areas.

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We hope to join other Solvers to build partnerships that will optimize Room to Read's expertise as leaders in global education in order to effect change at scale. Our teams have created high quality local language children's books and materials that can now be translated into online resources through an open technology platform that will allow broader access. Through collaboration with others interested in eradicating illiteracy during our lifetime, we can transform millions of lives and equip youth with the tools and skills necessary to become the next generation of leaders. 

Our technology committee, established to advise on improving efficiency and effectiveness through global technology strategies, consists of professionals from groups like Cisco, Atlassian, Goldman Sachs, Salesforce, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Non-profit partners may play a role in this solution depending on scope. 

Early grade literacy non-profits. Although they may be collaborators, depending on project.