A markets-based approach to ending illiteracy.

Globally, 367 million primary school-aged children do not possess the basic reading skills necessary to thrive in society. Alarmingly, two-thirds of the children who are not learning to read—some 262 million—are in school.

Studies have demonstrated the importance of high quality reading materials in supporting learning— a World Bank study even deemed textbooks one of the most cost-effective learning inputs, particularly when in the local language students understand, and in a class with an effective teacher. Despite their importance, books are absent or in short supply in far too many classrooms globally. We call this the Book Gap.

No single intervention can address all the elements needed for a functioning market.

Launched in 2018, the Global Book Alliance was formed to put into action lessons gleaned from a feasibility study that assessed the challenges and opportunities for impact to address the global shortage of high quality children’s books in underserved languages. A major theme of the study was the application of a market shaping approach to improve the book supply chain. GBA’s “Book Chain” approach was developed with this in mind. The founding members of the Global Book Alliance now compose the GBA steering committee.