Room to Read is a global organization seeking to transform the lives of millions of children in the developing world through a focus on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and ensure girls have the skills and support needed to complete their secondary education.

Since 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of more than four million children in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zambia by providing increased access to high-quality educational opportunities through our network of libraries and schools, local language children’s books and its girls education program. We aim to reach 10 million children by 2015.

 

WHAT THEY DO

Building educational infrastructure and providing educational opportunities in the developing world is not a simple task. Every country offers a unique set of challenges and advantages, every region has its strengths and weaknesses, every community has its own needs. For this reason, Room to Read employs local teams led by a local director in each country. Their local teams understand the needs of each country and each community. They speak the language, know the customs, and understand what it takes to implement each program successfully. They ensure that our programs are of the highest quality and meet their singular needs.

We have four core programs that provide educational resources to communities throughout the developing world:

•Reading Room Program - They establish libraries and stock them with local-language children’s books, original Room to Read titles, donated English-language books, games and furniture to create a child-friendly learning environment.

•Local Language Publishing Program - They source new content from local writers and illustrators and publish high-quality children's books in the local language to distribute throughout our networks.

•School Room Program - They partner with local communities to build schools so children can learn in a safe, child-friendly environment.

•Girls' Education Program - They provide long-term, holistic support enabling girls to pursue and complete their secondary education.

Through their Challenge Grant model, communities co-invest with Room to Read, facilitating the long-term sustainability of our projects after our local teams have moved on to assist other villages.

They also regularly test new program models so we can appropriate scale them into new countries and communities, and we track our results to ensure that our programs run effectively and efficiently, and have the best possible impact on children throughout the developing world.