NABOTU was set up in 1997 to promote authorship, publishing and the development of a culture of reading in Uganda.
At the time of the formation of NABOTU, Uganda had started to embrace an open and competitive publishing environment following the adoption of the textbook policy in 1998.
The East African Book Development Programme whose goal is the eradication of poverty through literacy enhancement is currently being implemented in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
The programme creatively engages the target groups to embrace a culture of reading through different activities including; The programme seeks to broaden understanding of copyright law by authors, publishers, legal advisors and all rightsholders and users.
NABOTU is supporting the establishment of the Uganda Reproduction Rights Organisation (URRO) as a collective management organization for its rightsholders.