Book Havens for Ethiopia
In 2018 we worked with CODE Ethiopia to pilot Book Havens – a new way of creating spaces for children’s reading – in five community libraries in rural and slum areas of Ethiopia.
The project aimed to support the development of the children’s services offered by the community libraries by refurbishing a space in the library for children to use, training staff in working with children and providing brand new printed children’s books and two tablets per library pre-loaded with local content.
Read the report in full here.
About Book Havens
Our Book Havens project aims to work with partners to create places where children can read in community-run and informal libraries as well as non-library spaces. The project was also piloted in Nairobi, Kenya. Find out more here.
Key findings
- Increase in child visits
Libraries reported an increase in the number of child visits thanks to the presence of brand new books to explore and a child-friendly space to read them in for the first time.
- Libraries are engaging more children in reading
Following the training (attended by two members of staff from each community library) the libraries now offer a range of book-related activities for children. This includes read-alouds, singing, poetry and drawing.
- Local schools are making more use of the library
Libraries are now loaning books in bulk to local schools to use in class as well as receiving visits from classes in the Book Haven and running activities for them.
Special thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery who generously funded Book Havens for Ethiopia.