Storybooks for Early Childhood Development centres

VISION

Biblionef's vision is to give new and appropriate books to children and teenagers in under-resourced communities in their mother tongue, stimulating their curiosity and desire to learn and laying a solid foundation of knowledge for their future. Through our work with Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, we aim to give very young children the advantage of starting school having had access to books and knowing how to make the most of them. We courier the trunks of books to the centres ahead of time and then we visit. We open the trunks and go through the books, explaining why we selected each one. We show the teachers how to tell a good story and how to get the children to care for the books. We explain the importance of early literacy, getting the children to turn the pages, look at the pictures and interpret what they see; and developing listening skills and imagination through storytelling sessions.

OVERVIEW

Biblionef provides children in disadvantaged communities with new books, many of them African-centred and in the children’s mother tongue, to strengthen their self-esteem and stimulate learning. Through this project, Biblionef will provide steel trunks with 80 story books in both English and mother tongue, and 10 toys in each trunk, to children and teachers at 10 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Free State province. These centres are already affiliated to the Ntsoanatsatsi EduCare Trust, an established training organisation working with preschool teachers in the province. Ntsoanatsatsi will facilitate the process of distributing the books to the preschool centres and will train the teachers to use the books effectively and keep them in good condition, providing ongoing support over the year. The children speak mainly Afrikaans and Sesotho as their mother tongue and the books will reflect these languages as well as English.

WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

• The books are new, with many of them African-centred and in the children’s own mother tongue which helps to strengthen the self-esteem and feeling of self-worth of children, especially those living in disadvantaged communities. Research shows that mother tongue education at this age confirms the significance of one’s own culture and builds children’s pride, while forming an effective basis for later literacy in other languages.
• We agree with Biblionef that the children’s wellbeing will be enhanced by access to storybooks which give them pleasure and open up their imagination, while providing the basis for a sound education based on a love of reading.
• We also like that part of Biblionef’s policy of donating books for free recommends, as a gesture of appreciation, that recipients perform a community project, such as cleaning the schoolyard or singing to the aged. This plays an important role in community pride and development and is empowering.

EXPECTED LIFE CHANGE

An investment of R 57 250 will enable the purchase of books for an average of 45 children attending each of 10 ECD centres. This means that:

• Approximately 450 learners will benefit directly from the project.
• With most centres having a teacher and an assistant, approximately 20 staff members will directly benefit from the new resources and the training which accompanies them.

In the first year there will thus be 470 direct beneficiaries from this project at a cost of R122 per person. The books will last at least four years, which means that new learners will benefit from the books each new school year.

The project has breadth by being spread across 10 centres in the province, and its depth is extended by the involvement of the Ntsoanatsatsi EduCare Trust in maximising the effective use of the books. The intensity of the project’s impact is fairly high, since the ECD centres are likely to use the books on a daily basis, bringing an injection of effective literacy work into their educational programmes. The permanence of the project will be affected by the limited lifespan of the new resources, but over the four year period the literacy work will hopefully have a lasting impact on thousands of children’s education and lives

NEED

The majority of children in South Africa have little or no access to books. They are often too far from a public library and have minimal reading material in their homes or schools. More than 60% of the schools in South Africa don’t have library materials and over half of the schools are 60 kilometres away from a public library. Research has shown that children who have no access to books before they go to school are severely disadvantaged and have difficulty catching up with other children.

In South Africa there are 11 official languages and research also shows that having access to reading material in one’s own language is a major factor in the development of early literacy. Children who are not proficient in their home language have immense difficulties in grasping concepts when being taught in a second language and they also have reading problems.

The importance of stimulating an interest in books at an early age cannot be underestimated. Early Childhood Development centres play a critical role in preparing children for school, and it is at this level that books should be introduced to children. ECD centres are, however, badly under-resourced because they do not receive sufficient government funding, have few resources and especially lack story books.

STRATEGY

Biblionef believes that if we can instil in our children a love of reading for pleasure and lifelong learning, we will give them the tools to change the face of South Africa forever. Having access to story books in their own language allows them to discover other childhood worlds, of imagination and fantasy, which they have sometimes been deprived of, helps them to develop coping strategies and shows them the importance of their own language.

ACTION PLAN

Preparation

Weeks 1-4: On receiving confirmation that the funding will be made available, Biblionef will contact Ntsoanatsatsi EduCare Trust. The organisation will be asked to sign a contract agreeing to be the intermediary for the project. They will then be asked to submit full information on each of the ECD centres that they feel will benefit most from the donation. This information includes number of children, ages and the home languages of the children.

Implementation

Weeks 5-6: On receipt of the project funding Biblionef will use the information provided by the Ntsoanatsatsi EduCare Trust to order the steel trunks.

Weeks 7-10: Selection of appropriate story books will take place. Where insufficient books are available from Biblionef’s rolling book stock, titles will be ordered. If requested, books will have the funders’ branding inserted into the book as a sticker, or alternatively posters can be printed.

Weeks 13-14: After packing and dispatch, delivery will take a maximum of two weeks.

Week 15: Ntsoanatsatsi EduCare Trust notify Biblionef that individual ECD centres have received their trunk of books.

At 6 months: Biblionef sends reporting guidelines to Ntsoanatsatsi EduCare Trust which then instructs individual ECD centres. Ntsoanatsatsi collects reports and sends them to Biblionef.

At 12 months: Same procedure as above is followed for the second report.

Monitoring

The book handover and Biblionef staff’s workshop on care and use of the books provides the first step of monitoring the project. The reports received from the ECD centres form the most important part of monitoring and evaluating as they indicate what benefits the books have given the children, and provide a guideline as to which ECD centres may need further support.

RISK PROFILE

Key Strengths

• Concept: This project is based on a simple, clear idea of delivering story books to disadvantaged Early Childhood Development centres through established training organisations. The project addresses an urgent and basic need in South Africa today.
• Design: Providing mother tongue books follows good practice in Early Childhood Development and laying the groundwork for literacy. The books can be kept safe and in good condition since they will be provided in lockable trunks.
• Capability: The Biblionef staff have much collective experience in publishing, selecting and distributing appropriate books to South African children. Since 1998 Biblionef have distributed more than 603 000 books to over 5000 organisations reaching over 2,3 Million children. Teachers, librarians and caregivers involved in similar Biblionef projects have reported a fundamental improvement in children’s listening and reading skills, enlargement of their vocabularies, and children experiencing feelings of empowerment after reading stories of other children in similar situations.
• Control: Controls are in place for the project – Ntsoanatsatsi has to sign a contract whereby it commits to using the books to the best advantage of the children and also has to report back to Biblionef regularly and in depth on the children’s progress. Follow-up will be done by Biblionef after six months and again after one year.
• Sustainability: If the project is successful in inculcating a love of books and reading in the children, this will be sustained throughout their lives. Biblionef aims to maintain contact with recipients and provide more books when necessary, to ensure the continuing development of the children.

Key Risks

• Concept: The potential risk of books not being used effectively is addressed through the training which the partner organisation will provide.
• Design: The risk that recipients will take the books for granted and not use them effectively is mitigated by the requirement that each ECD centre has to put something back into their community e.g. perform for the elderly.
• Capability: The Biblionef staff is small and relies on partner training organisations to implement most of the project. They specialise in book selection and distribution and not in project management or monitoring and evaluation.
• Sustainability: Biblionef as an organisation does not generate a lot of its own income and relies on funding. This means that its work is not necessarily sustainable in the long term.
• External: There is always the risk of theft from the ECD centres, but this is mitigated by the fact that the books can be locked in the heavy metal trunks which are difficult to remove. If there is high staff turnover due to illness or family responsibilities, the training may need to be repeated by Ntsoanatsatsi.