Equipping Ten Under-Resourced Early Learning Centres

VISION

Biblionef’s vision is to give new and appropriated books to all under-resourced children in their mother tongue.

OVERVIEW

Biblionef is a book donation agency specialising in providing new or unused books to children and adolescents where they have no access to a library or relevant reading materials. Biblionef SA is unique in that it donates books in all eleven of South Africa's languages.

The triggering factor behind Biblionef's creation was the realisation that without books, the doors to knowledge, progress and freedom remain shut. Biblionef has therefore set itself the goal of providing deprived children with new story books from childhood through to adolescence, creating a lane of reading, thus stimulating their curiosity and desire to learn. Books convey ideas, in return fostering hope.

Biblionef is a not-for-profit organisation, with a very small and dedicated staff. It raises funding from the corporate as well as the private sector, from government and individuals both in South Africa and abroad. The money is used to buy books and pay costs for couriering, warehousing and administration.

What is the problem which your project aims to address?

There continues to be a lack of storybooks for children in their own language in places that are accessible to them and children continue to be disadvantaged by this. There are still remedial reading classes in primary and high schools. We still find young people leaving school and entering either the work place or tertiary education without the necessary skills such as understanding concepts which are learnt more easily as a child and especially through reading in its mother tongue.

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

What are the effects of the problem on your beneficiaries?

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 no storybooks in their own language, either in their homes or in their schools. 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.

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 storybooks 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.

Who are the beneficiaries of your project?

The beneficiaries of the project are the children attending the selected ECD centres. The books will last at least four years which means that each new school year new learners will benefit from the books. Biblionef will identify ECD training Centres in each province with which they already have a good working relationship. The ECD Training Centres will in turn identify two ECD centres that will receive the book donations.

ACTION PLAN

Preparation

What steps will you take before the project can start?

Immediately: Biblionef will identify ECD training Centres in each province with which they already have a good working relationship. The ECD Training Centres will in turn identify two ECD centres that will receive the book donations.

Immediately: On receiving confirmation of the amount of funding that has been raised through the Donate a Book campaign Biblionef will contact the ECD Training Centres. The centres will be asked to sign a contact agreeing to be the intermediaries for the project. They will then be asked to submit full information on each of the ECD’s that they feel will benefit most from the donation. This information includes number of children, ages and the home languages of the children.

Implementation

What steps will you take to implement the project?

Week 5-6: On receipt of the project funding Biblionef will use the information provided by the ECD Training Centres to order the steel trunks. Week 7 - 10: Selection of storybooks will take place. Where insufficient books are available from Biblionef’s rolling book stock titles will be ordered. The A4 label and poster will be created. Week 13-14: After packing and dispatch delivery will take maximum two weeks.

Monitoring

What steps will you take to monitor and evaluate the project?

Week 15: ECD Training Centers notify Biblionef that individual ECD’s have received the donation. At 6 months: Biblionef sends reporting guidelines to Training Centres which then instruct individual ECD’s. Training Centres collect reports and send them to Biblionef At 12 months: Same procedure as above is followed for the second report

The reports received from the ECD’s form the most important part of monitoring and evaluating as they indicate what benefits the books have given the children.