Room to Read envisions a world where all children are enabled to pursue quality education, attain their maximum potential and positively contribute towards their own community and the world at large.
To realize this goal, Room to Read focuses on 2 areas where they are convinced they could get the biggest impact: gender equality in education and literacy. They are working jointly with local governments and communities throughout Africa and Asia towards developing literacy skills and building a culture of reading among children in primary school, and in giving support to the girl child to finish their secondary school having the needed life skills they’ll require in order to become successful in school and even beyond.
The Room to Read board, management team, advisors and global staff is composed of talented and passionate individuals with a wide breadth of skills ranging from leading nonprofit organizations and multinational corporations to respected academic institutions. They have built a solid organizational foundation combining business principles derived from the private sector along with the nonprofit sector best practices plus industry-leading research.
The Room to Read Story
In excess of 60 million children of primary school age across the globe lack access to basic education and most probably most will never know how to read or ever write. By empowering kids with this lifelong gift, Room to Read sees a world where people can reach their maximum potential.
Room to Read got its modest origins in 2000 Nepal, where they started bringing books that were donated to the rural communities in that small country. Currently, they are an international organization devoted towards the promotion and facilitating education by way of programs focusing on gender equality in education and literacy. This is achieved through building schools, setting up school libraries, publishing children's books in local-languages, training teachers and giving support girls to finish their complete secondary school.
Currently, Room to Read is working in Zambia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Nepal, South Africa, Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh. There are plans of expanding so that they could bring educational resources and opportunities to kids across the whole the developing world.
Programs run by Room to Read have benefitted in excess of 8.8 million children up to now and they are very much on track towards reaching 10 million by close of 2015. Envisage a world whereby each kid gets access to some basic education. Working towards that objective is the purpose of Room to Read and ensure that this dream becomes an actual reality, one kid at a time.
Room to Read Areas of Operation
Currently Room to Read is operating in 10 countries in Africa and Asia. In each of these countries, they adapt programs to best suit the specific needs of the nations or community in question, making sure that every dollar that is spent attains the maximum impact on the kids being served.
Room to Read engages local teams, which already have personally done some investing in their country’s education and are conversant with the challenges that lie ahead.
Room to Read Programs
This innovative model gives focus on systemic and deep transformation within the schools in this low income and developing during the two time phases which are extremely critical in a kid’s schooling life: secondary school for the girl child’s education and the early primary school for acquisition of literacy. Room to Read has produced a model which can be localized, replicated and easily sustained by the concerned governments.
Literacy Program
The Literacy Program changes primary schools into kid-friendly environments of learning, enabling kids to develop their natural skills and grow a culture of reading during their primary school days and ultimately get to be independent life-long readers.
Girls' Education Program
The Room to Read Girls’ Education Program makes sure that girls finish secondary school and obtain the needed skills to be able to negotiate vital life decisions. The program reinforces the commitment of girls to their own education, working with them towards developing necessary life skills and enhancing support for the education of girls among their own parents, the school staff, and the larger community.
Room to Read collaborates with governments, partner organizations and local communities towards ensuring that children in primary school could get to be independent readers and the girls are able to finish secondary school. They goals that are measurable and are fully dedicated to the collection of action-oriented data that ensures the programs are being run with great quality and maximum impact, while at the same time maximizing on cost efficiencies.
Getting Involved
Volunteers in their thousands, countless passionate supporters and hundreds of student groups globally make the work of Room to Read possible. Everybody got a part to play towards making sure that all kids get an opportunity of pursuing quality education, irrespective of where they are living. The various options available are numerous and include the following:
- Investing in education
- Donating
- Becoming Institutional partners
- In-kind partners
- Making matching donations
- Holding Events
- Joining the Chapters
- Starting your individual campaign
- Students Activities
- Cause marketing
