A Lubuto Library Project innovation is among 32 winners of an All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development grant,  a joint initiative of USAID, World Vision and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID. The competition to create innovative solutions to improve early grade reading in the developing world elicited more than 450 submissions from more than 75 countries.  Lubuto's winning proposal, "LubutoLiteracy: Zambian teaching and learning materials for the digital age," is funded by World Vision.

 

The Lubuto Library Project team joined other winners to showcase their innovation at a DevelopmentXChange session on September 7 at USAID headquarters and uniquely highlighted the role that libraries play as “technology incubators.”  LubutoLiteracy is a pioneering program creating high-quality mother-tongue materials to teach children to read on an accessible, low-cost digital platform, and sustainably deploying them at national scale in Zambia in partnership with government and other stakeholders. The interactive materials are developed locally by teachers and youth in line with the national curriculum and leverage the open access learning environment and outreach of Lubuto Libraries to particularly benefit highly vulnerable and out-of-school children. Library staff provide supported access to interactive computer-based lessons in Zambia's seven major languages that adapt the printed curriculum to incorporate more familiar vocabulary. A significant factor favoring the success of the project is that it builds on the lessons of Lubuto’s unique pilot program in its two libraries in Lusaka.

This grant builds on an earlier project funded by EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) in which 700 mother-tongue reading lessons were created.  Earlier this year, librarians in the Washington, DC area volunteered to add sound files to complete each lesson and other colleagues are developing the LubutoCollections.org website to facilitate their dissemination.  The two-year USAID/World Vision grant will support the evaluation, improvement of the materials and making them widely accessible throughout Zambia on devices such as e-readers and mobile phones.

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