Global Book Alliance Newsletter - July 2020

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Welcome

Welcome to the GBA newsletter!

This is a periodic offering with updates and information on the GBA’s activities, including products, tools, and guidance relating to every stage of the book supply chain.

News and Updates

GBA’s Guidance Note: Reading and Learning During COVID-19
Recently, the GBA released a Guidance Note on book provision in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 5-page note summarizes the challenges to reading and learning presented by COVID-19, lays out considerations and guiding principles, as well as some practical information on how to access quality materials even in areas where internet connectivity is low or non-existent.
Read the full note.

GDL Radio - Mobilizing Audio for Learning
On May 29, 2020, in response to the need for educational materials that can reach students at home during the COVID-19 crisis, the Global Digital Library, one of GBA’s flagship initiatives, launched GDL Radio. The site features quality interactive audio instruction which can be downloaded by government agencies, NGOs, and families to be used at home for free.

In June, the GBA hosted a webinar with interactive audio experts and USAID field staff from Malawi. The webinar offers guidance on adapting the materials for use at home during school closures.

vCIES
This year’s CIES conference, which became vCIES (“virtual CIES”), featured a number of presentations and panels related to reading materials and the book supply chain. Many were given by organizations on the GBA steering committee. Check out the CIES page on our website for descriptions, slide decks, and recordings.

Partnerships

Translate a Story Sprint Creates Thousands of Digital Books in Local Languages

GBA partnered with Learning Equality, Norway, and Verizon to organize Translate A Story, a crowdsourced effort to translate digital books into a wide variety of local languages from April 8 - May 29. Over 1200 volunteers, from parents to university professors to professional interpreters signed up to translate books from English into local languages, and a grand total of 6614 books were translated into over 100 languages! Check out Translate A Story’s webinar page for the recording of the webinar.

Google Launches Global Digital Library Content on Read Along

In May, Google released early access to Read Along, an Android app that helps children learn to read by giving verbal and visual feedback as they read stories out loud.

Read Along draws content from a variety of sources of vetted, open education materials, including content from the Global Book Alliance’s flagship initiative, the Global Digital Library.

Supporting Best Practice

REACH Trust Fund
The World Bank, a member of the Global Book Alliance, manages the Results in Education for All Children (REACH) Trust Fund, which builds evidence on results-based financing in education through pilot initiatives around the globe, including a set of grants focused on the book supply chain. The GBA is pleased to feature newly emerging knowledge products from this important work:

Practice Note: Incentivizing Actors in the Book Chain to Increase Availability of Quality Books for Children
This note summarizes the main takeaways of a discussion between REACH grantees about their efforts to improve the books supply chain in Asian and African countries. Topics such as technology and open licensing, tracking systems, and strategic involvement of stakeholders are addressed.
Read the full note.
Evidence Note: Results-Based Financing and the Book Supply Chain: Motivating Writers and Publishers to Create Quality Storybooks
REACH, together with the Global Book Alliance, funded a project in South Africa to raise awareness about the role that storybooks can play in promoting literacy and to increase the availability of quality storybooks in African languages. Besides adding needed storybooks amid the government’s Read to Lead campaign, the project introduced results-based financing to the country’s book supply chain to try to improve its performance.
Read the full note for details of the intervention that helped lower the cost of storybooks by up to 93 percent.

Social Media

Promoting an #antiracist world

On Twitter, the GBA features children's books that address the topic of race in age appropriate ways, and which celebrate diversity.

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