Books and Learning Materials
The Working Group on Books and Learning Materials (WGBLM) is committed to supporting processes conducive to the formulation of adequate national book policies, with the objective of improving the provision of good quality educational materials, effective schooling, and literacy across sub-Saharan Africa. In 2000, the Books Group had a busy year of research, publishing, policy advocacy, dissemination and networking activities relating to its involvement in book policy planning and implementation.
Calling for tax breaks and promoting Reading for All
During 2000, the Taxes off Books! Campaign, which was launched in conjunction with the African Publishers' Network (APNET) at the 1999 ADEA Biennial Meeting held in Johannesburg, gathered momentum. The campaign received press coverage in Nairobi and Harare as a result of press conferences organized during the ADEA Meeting of Working Group Leaders and Coordinators in June and the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in July.
At the World Education Forum in Dakar in April, the campaign featured in the round table discussion on Strategic Choices in the Development and Use of Teaching and Learning Resources, which drew on the WGBLM/UNESCO survey of the context of book provision in Africa. This study, initiated by the Working Group in 1999, was extended for the EFA 2000 assessment into a global survey on textbooks and learning materials. Members of the round table panel in Dakar reiterated the Working Group's recommendation that books' exoneration from all forms of taxation, customs, and excise duty should be part of government policy to promote reading for all.
Dissemination of the second phase of the WGBLM/UNESCO study, on barriers to the intra-African trade in books, was continued in one of the Indaba sessions at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) at the end of July. Ruth Makotsi, the lead researcher, led a discussion on the implications of the research findings for regional economic communities. Furthermore, a joint APNET/ADEA mission to Maputo in November participated in the SADC Inter-Ministerial Conference on Culture, which discussed the draft SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sports. The mission pursued the need to identify books as cultural products and publishing as a cultural industry.
Improving book access
Throughout 2000 the Working Group continued to support the Pan African Booksellers Association (PABA) in its capacity-building workshops, which promote good book-selling practice and strengthen National Booksellers' Associations. These workshops have helped to stimulate the growth of the PABA network, which now has 17 member associations (compared to 4 in 1997).
The Books Group was instrumental in facilitating a technical meeting during PABA's annual convention on the publishing/book-selling interface. At the final policy session, organized by the Group at the Zimbabwe Book Fair, the guest of honor, Minister of Education Ekwow Spio-Garbrah of Ghana, invited members of the PABA Executive Committee to continue the dialogue at the Ghana International Book Fair in November. This resulted in the first formal meeting between representatives of APNET and PABA on the complementary roles of publishers and booksellers in Accra.
Research on key policy issues
Throughout the year the Working Group continued to emphasize the importance of up-to-date research on key policy issues. The research commissioned on book distribution systems was completed in March, with the findings serving as background for another ZIBF Indaba session in July.
In addition to the enlarged version of Expanding the Book Trade across Africa, three new titles in the Working Group's Perspectives in African Book Development series focused on financing, access, and gender issues in materials development. The Group's strategy has been to encourage the authors of these publications to take the lead in policy dissemination.
The writing team that developed the Working Group's first training manual, which was Number 12 in the Perspectives on African Book Development series, will be trainers at workshops planned for 2001. The title, Gender-Sensitive Editing, was enthusiastically received by Working Group members. Our intention is explore with different National Publishers Associations early in 2001 the viability of producing French and Kiswahili versions of the publication.
Disseminating the policy implications of research
To discuss the implications of the case study on Lesotho in Financing Textbooks and Teacher Training Materials, the Ministry of Education in Maseru organized a workshop in September, with support from Irish Aid. Discussions are underway on the dissemination of the policy implications of the other case studies in this publication, as well as those in Books for Schools: Improving Access to Supplementary Reading Materials in Africa.
A regional workshop on Textbook Strategic Planning in Dakar at the end of September provided another channel for sharing the policy implications of Working Group research. The Working Group organized this workshop for representatives from the public and private sectors in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal at the request of the World Bank Africa Region Office for the United Nations Special Initiative for Africa (UNSIA) program.
Another workshop was organized in conjunction with the Working Group on Education Statistics in Lusaka in October to follow up on the NESIS pilot module on Information on Books and Educational Materials, once again continuing the dialogue between the Ministry of Education and the Booksellers and Publishers Association.
These workshops will be followed in 2001 with a renewed emphasis on helping stakeholders in the public, private, and NGO sectors share good practices in how to mobilize teaching and learning resources for Education for All.
Carew Treffgarne
Leader of the Working Group on Books and Learning Materials
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