If anything, 2021 has been a more challenging year than 2020 for early literacy in the global South. But as with 2020, this year – with all its pandemic-related setbacks – has also seen a lot of innovation and the sharing of ideas.
Blog posts
Featured
18 May 2021
In Northern Uganda, radio was the most accessible medium for young children when schools were closed
Craig Esbeck and the team at Mango Tree Literacy Lab (MTLL) recently delivered a fascinating report about their EdTech Hub Sandbox findings. If you’re not familiar with the project, we’ve blogged about it here, and we’ve published the full report here, so take a look.
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19 February 2021
Share your mother tongue reading resources on International Mother Language Day 2021
Despite the availability of these resources, we need more storybooks in local languages to ensure all children can learn to read in their mother tongue, identify with characters that look and 'sound' just like them, and develop a love of reading. Kirsty von Gogh and Lisbeth Levey have written a paper called 'African children deserve stories about themselves' exploring the intersecting roles of African authors, illustrators, communities, and languages in story creation, download and read the paper here.
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02 February 2021
Celebrate world read aloud day in February, and beyond!
‘Researchers are agreed that reading aloud is the single most important activity by which parents, grandparents and caregivers can foster early brain development, lifelong learning success, reading pleasure and reading skills.’
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26 January 2021
An invested non-profit and old-school innovation join forces to educate and uplift a community in crisis
Sometimes innovation is not about the shiny new things, but rather about grasping existing opportunities to make them work for you and your community, especially when confronted with a crisis.
09 December 2020
2020 awards and milestones moving early literacy forward and celebrating a culture of reading
It’s been an eventful year. In spite of the Pandemic, we have much to celebrate in the promotion of early literacy and a culture of reading in the global South. The awards and milestones achieved by the institutions and people listed below should be applauded, given the many challenges they faced in 2020.
So, we’ve put together a list of all the excellent happenings that we’ve noted; if anything is missing, please let us know in the comments section below.
27 November 2020
Ubongo embraces open licensing to make its learning materials even more accessible to African children
Ubongo co-founder, Nisha Ligon, describes this non-profit social enterprise as the world’s biggest classroom, and with a reach to 17 million learners across sub-Saharan Africa, she’s not wrong. Although Ubongo content is aimed at African children, it is equally relevant to anyone interested in high-quality, multicultural, and entertaining educational resources for children.
17 November 2020
How Soma facilitated a project where children are creating openly licensed reading material for other children
I’m fascinated by the simple notion of children authoring stories for other children to read and enjoy – it makes so much sense. In its project, Soma Book Café, went one step further. The four children whose stories were selected by judges consisting of other children and adults worked with published authors, illustrators, designers, and other book professionals to turn their ideas and words into a professional product in print and online. Putting these ideas into practise proved to be a lot more complex than envisaged; delivering thought-provoking learnings to the adults who took on the challenge.
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05 October 2020
In conversation with Lorato Trok: Responsible publishing and making open licensing sustainable
For this blog series, the Early Learning Resource Network is reaching out to authors, editors, illustrators, translators, educators, publishers and other stakeholders who, through their creative endeavours, are working to grow and improve the early learning environment, specifically on the African continent.
15 September 2020
Pratham Books, Room to Read and Book Dash are among the international winners of the USA’s Library of Congress’ Literacy Awards Program
These non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which have innovatively adopted open licensing publishing and distribution models and that specialize in solving early literacy challenges in developing nations, were selected along with a list of other initiatives, ‘for their exemplary work in ensuring that children continue to build critical literacy skills.’
26 August 2020
Mango Tree Literacy Lab’s innovative use of open licensing is solving textbook problems in primary schools
Craig Esbeck, Director, Mango Tree Literacy Lab