African Storybook

An initiative of Saide, the ASb has an interactive website that enables users to read, create, download, translate, and adapt storybooks.

[2] These challenges are related to and exacerbated by the shortage of children's reading material available in Africa, particularly in African languages; the major impetus for the ASb.

[1] Developing mother tongue literacy before transitioning to a language of wider communication (e.g., English or French) is the policy in most sub-Saharan countries, and supported by the African Storybook initiative.

The ASb also places content creation in the form of writing and translation in the hands of the communities who need storybooks for early reading in familiar languages.

[7][8] To test and get feedback on the website and stories, ASb worked in 2014/2015 with 14 pilot sites in South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho and Uganda – schools and community libraries that represent the target audience of the initiative.

Currently, we have ASb Champions in Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and the Diaspora.

Social Impact Publishing Partners are key to the ASb, as it relies on other organisations and individual champions to advocate for local language storybooks in countries across the continent.

Some of ASb key partners include iMlango which works in over 200 primary schools in Kenya and has recently expanded to Nigeria; eKitabu which adapts ASb storybooks in formats accessible by learners with disabilities and works in 13 African countries; Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development's KEC, a platform from which primary schools with government tablets can access storybooks; Vodacom Classrooms; World Reader; Learning Equality; Centre for the Study of Learning Performance (CSLP) READS Programme; YouScribe; Pratham Books' Storyweaver, Book Dash, Room to Read, Molteno Foundation, Nelson Mandela Institute, Nal’ibali, Little Zebra Books, and READ Educational Trust.