The Association for the Development of African Education (ADEA), a Global Book Alliance steering committee member, held a workshop on National Book and Reading Policies for Africa in Westlands Nairobi, Kenya June 17-19, 2019. A central component of the workshop was to validate the African Union (AU) continental framework to support quality education for national development in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education of Kenya and the African Union Commission (AUC) and with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
This key meeting is part of the long-lasting partnership between ADEA and USAID under the GBA initiative. It is a culmination of activities built on the gains made thus far, in following the Action Plan developed by ADEA and USAID in January 2018.
Dr. Belio Kipsang, Principal Secretary in the Kenya Ministry of Education’s State Department for Early Learning and Basic Education officially opened the workshop. He recognized the strategic role the book publishing industry plays in the provision of quality education and in national development. To this end, he committed that the Ministry of Education shall “deploy all resources necessary to formulate and implement a national book and reading policy for Kenya.”
Talking about the importance of this meeting, Linda Hiebert, Senior Advisor for the Global Book Alliance, declared that the workshop offered a significant development in the search for real solutions in book publishing and in nurturing the culture of reading.
Albert Nsengyumva, Executive Secretary of ADEA, said that there is an intrinsic link between books, reading, and sustainable development. He assured the meeting of the Association’s unwavering support to member countries in their efforts to formulate national book and reading policies.
On the aspect of financing education and research, Dr. Beatrice Njenga, Head of Education Division in AUC’s Human Resources, Science, and Technology Department, said that the workers of today’s global economy require a different set of skills and knowledge. She called for Africa to reverse its marginalization in the world economy by investing in well-equipped libraries in schools, as well as in research and development.
During the workshop, ADEA and USAID signed an agreement to support the Continental Framework for National Book and Reading Policies that participants had examined in round-table discussions and eventually adopted. The framework provides a road map for African member countries to formulate National Book and Reading Policies that will enable each country to address the various challenges facing the book publishing industry, a key sector for the achievement of quality education for economic, social, and cultural development. In support of the framework, AUC launched a CESA Reading Culture Cluster that will complement the activities of stakeholders in the book industry as they support governments toward formulating National Book and Reading Policies.
The 42 participants from both Francophone and Anglophone African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda), international organizations, and local NGOs also discussed the need to ensure that Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda will not lag behind in knowledge creation, production, distribution, dissemination, and use in response to the 21st century demands for national development.
At the end of the workshop, participants had a clear understanding of the strategic role the book publishing industry and a public reading sector play in national development. This is in addition to having an appreciation of the need for National Book and Reading Policies and the role and importance of books in national languages in the development of a sustainable literate environment. Delegates also owned the validated framework and the accompanying harmonized formulation.