Strategy

Book Provision During COVID: GBA Guidance Note

Book Provision During COVID: GBA Guidance Note

Recently the GBA released a Guidance Note designed to provide a roadmap for ensuring access to age- and language-appropriate reading materials for the poorest and most vulnerable, both during the COVID-19 crisis, and beyond.

Global Digital Library adds 17 new Languages!

Global Digital Library adds 17 new Languages!

On International Literacy Day (September 8th), the Global Book Alliance celebrates the addition of 17 new languages to the growing collection on the Global Digital Library (GDL). Thanks to contributions from USAID and All Children Reading, the GDL now contains vetted, quality content in 62 languages!

Webinar: How the Business of Books Can Advance Literacy

Webinar: How the Business of Books Can Advance Literacy

On Sept 8th, this year’s International Literacy Day, the Global Book Alliance will host a cross-sectoral panel that looks at the role of books in early grade reading to ensure literacy gains for the 600 million children and adolescents who cannot read.

Webinar: Mobilizing Audio for Learning During and After COVID-19

Webinar: Mobilizing Audio for Learning During and After COVID-19

Global Digital Library representatives and audio learning experts from EDC outlined the power of audio as an education system enhancement, introduced the available resources, and outlined steps to ensure quality of repurposed existing resources and new materials development.

COVID-19 Response: Global Book Alliance Co-organizes Global Sprint to Translate Children’s Storybooks – TranslateAStory.org

Due to the spread of COVID-19, more than 1.5 billion children and youth are out of school as of April 10, 2020. Many lack access to reading materials in a language they understand.

In response, the Global Book Alliance is collaborating with Norway, UNESCO, UNHCR, ADEA, Verizon, Learning Equality and Creative Commons to set up a “translation sprint” to support volunteers to translate children’s reading books into as many local languages from around the globe as possible from April 8th - May 29th, 2020.

Translation sprint volunteers will translate children’s storybooks from English into any other language that they know, with a focus on underserved, local and regional languages since those who use these languages are likely to face a greater shortage of appropriate educational materials at home. 

The Global Digital Library will participate alongside other platforms that provide open educational resources both online including: Pratham Books’ StoryWeaver, The Asia Foundation’s Let’s Read, African Storybook. Volunteers may choose to translate materials for any or all of these providers, and all translated works will become available on the offline educational application Kolibri.

Once translated, the digital books will undergo a quality assurance process, after which the titles will become publicly available. Books will be available for on and offline use as well as for printing.

The GBA is calling for those who are bilingual or multilingual to spread the word and join the effort at TranslateAStory.org

Sign up and help reduce the impact on COVID-19 on learning by providing materials in underserved languages.