Worldreader, whom I have been writing about since they began their project in Ghana, have just released a report with USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) which describes the progress and looks at the success of this amazing project.

Rather than paraphrase this report, I shall simply post the press release that describes the main benefits that have occurred as a result of this project.

So, read on and be happy.

From the press release

Worldreader, a non-profit organization whose aim is to bring digital books to all in the developing world, along with the c(USAID) and ILC Africa, today released the results of Worldreader’s pilot study of e-readers in Ghana. Titled iREAD, the pilot program involved the wireless distribution of over 32,000 local and international digital books using Kindle e-readers to 350 students and teachers at six pilot schools in Ghana’s Eastern Region between November 2010 and September 2011.

Main findings:

According to the USAID-funded report from ILC Africa, an independent measurement and evaluation firm, the Worldreader e-reader program:

• Dramatically increased children’s access to books: Students with e-readers carried with them an average of 107 books each. Prior to the introduction of ereaders primary students reported having an average of only 3.6 books per student in their homes. Junior high school students reported having an average of 8.6 books at home, and senior high school students had 11.

• Increased enthusiasm towards reading: Students actively downloaded over 6,000 free books during the course of the study, in addition to the local and international text- and story books provided by Worldreader. This does not include thousands of additional free first-chapter samples and trial subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. See the Appendix for select
case studies demonstrating students’ interest in reading.

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Worldreader’s Michael Smith was at the London Book Fair last week, telling publishers about their work with Kindle ereaders in African country schools, and met with some very positive reactions it seems.

The main bit of good news was that the publishers of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not books, who have issued the series in ebook form, have donated almost their entire list to Worldreader – including the iconic Yellow Book of course.

This means that Worldreader have an effectively unlimited license to place these ebooks on as many Kindles as they wish…. What price the silly DRM idea here? And what a generous and good gesture from the publishers of these wonderful (I use that word advisedly) series of ebooks.

The list of these ebooks that they have donated to Worldreader is impressive, so here it is in full:-

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As you may know, Worldreader, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing ereaders to kids in the developing world, have been busy now for some time in several African countries, introducing Kindle ereaders into rural schools there – with great success.

They have posted a short video on their blog (link below) which gives an idea of how they have gone about it, and the results they have achieved so far.

Since the video speaks for itself, I shan’t go to any lengths to discuss it here, but merely ask you to sit back and watch it, and be encouraged by the fact that such ultra-modern technology actually works in such a situation, and has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for these kids.

As they say, the ability to read and access to books makes so many things possible for these kids, and their communities.

There are good things happening in this benighted world of ours, I am happy and proud to say.   Good people exist, and do good things too…

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Worldreader, a non-profit organization aiming to bring reading through ebooks to the developing world, working with biNu, have just added a mobile phone app to their offering.  Using cloud technology, this opens access to free ebooks to millions of mobile phone users in developing countries.

Note added later:

I have just heard from Worldreader that the guys from BiNu are in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress as they are in the running for the prize for the most innovative mobile App – against giants such as Google Wallet and similar.  I shall let you know what happens as soon as I am told…  Watch this space!

Yet another note added even later………

I am sorry to have to report that BiNu did not win the prize.

Now read on

Up till now, Worldreader have worked at a local level in several African countries by placing Kindle ereaders into rural schools, with enormous success, but they have just made a quantum leap in their reach by means of a new App developed by an Australian App developer – biNu – who have developed a networking platform for mobile phones and low end smart phones, which enables them to be used as ereaders, accessing ebooks in a cloud system.

This simple statement conceals an incredible step forward in providing ebooks to the poor of the world, and will enable Worldreader to reach untold number of people once this scheme has been fully implemented it seems to me.

As Worldreader co-founder Colin McElwee puts it:

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Worldreader has come up with a rather neat idea for last minute Christmas gifts of a rather different sort.

It works as described in this email I have just received from Worldreader, and seems to me to be a rather wonderful idea.

Here is how it works: and I quote from the email:

I’m writing to see if you guys happen to be searching for a cool last-minute gift idea for your readers because we have something both easy and amazing for folks to give to that book-worm on their list– allowing them to share their passion for reading with others in Africa.   By pointing your readers to Worldreader this holiday season, they’ll be able to give a gift (an e-card) in someone’s name so that kids can choose e-books of their choice.  This is especially interesting since we see that kids are downloading samples of titles likeTwilight, The New York Times and the newest Nicholas Spark’s novel, and when the sample finishes, they can’t read more.  A true book lover couldn’t think of anything worse!  This gift allows kids to choose the books they want to read, so they can fall in love with reading and ultimately change their futures.

Some background about Worldreader:

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Worldreader have been given a large collection of Puffin and Roald Dahl ebooks for those lucky kids in Africa to enjoy on their Kindle ereaders

Worldreader’s Director of Digital  Publishing, Elizabeth Wood announced this at the Frankfurt Conference 2011 in the following way:

This is a huge win for the children in our programs. Dahl’s wicked sense of humor has delighted children—and adults—in the developed world for more than 50 years.  Now, children in the developing world will have the opportunity to meet Matilda, Augustus Gloop, the evil Aunties Spiker and Sponge, and all of the other wonderful characters from Dahl’s beloved classics. This is the caliber of books we want to offer the children in our programs.  We encourage other publishers to follow suit.  Ask yourself what books would turn reluctant readers into avid readers?  Those are the books we want.

This is yet another sign of how successful the projects that the good folk of Worldreader are being, and the sort of response that they need to make the whole idea flourish.

Obviously those kids in Ghana and Kenya will have enormous fun reading these books, books that seem to be able to cross borders and cultures with no trouble, appealing to something that all kids seem to have inside them.. a sort of anarchic view of their worlds.

For their part, Puffin in the person of Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Children’s Books, had this to say.

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