Friends of African Village Libraries

About FAVL

• Commitment: FAVL is committed to the long-term management of and support for small community libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Mission: FAVL is dedicated to increasing access to reading material and other information in rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our Approach• FAVL works with village community and local

government to establish libraries– Village provides building and/or land; FAVL helps build

or refurbish– FAVL trains and helps supervise librarian– FAVL supports librarian salaries (librarians should be

employees of local government)– FAVL purchases and produces books relevant to the

community– FAVL ensures regular and reliable library reporting– FAVL helps volunteers work in villages

• Overall, the model is management intensive and long-term commitment

FAVL Libraries

FAVL has established 14 libraries, 9 in Burkina Faso, 3 in Ghana, 1 in Tanzania and 1 in Uganda, and has over 60 member libraries as a part of the Uganda Community Library Association

FAVL Libraries

• FAVL also established and supports the Uganda Community Library Association (UgCLA) with over 60 member libraries.

Our Partners

• Poverty Eradication Network (PEN) Trust• Under the Reading Tree• FastPencil• CESRUD• Kathy Knowles of Osu Children’s Library Fund

Looking Forward

Build an endowment for each FAVL-managed community library

Host Summer Reading Camps at libraries in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Produce more micro-books in local languages and language of school instruction

Continue to build staff capacity for expansion

2009 Financial Summary

2009 Income By Source

Indiv/business contributions

50.85%Study Abroad RWA Program

38.01%

Corporate/business grants

0.03%

Foundation/trust grants

7.02%

Nonprofit organization

grants4.09%

West Africa Library Statistics Burkina Faso VisitsBereba 17,022Dohoun 7,846Karaba 6,141Koumbia 6,489Sara 5,579Boni 9,651Dimikuy 2,582Sub-Total 55,310

Ghana VisitsGowrie-Kunkua 11,974Sherigu 18,054Sumbrungu 34,563Sub-Total 64,591

East Africa Library StatisticsTanzania Visits

Chalula 9,684

Sub-Total 9.684

Uganda Visits

Kitengesa 6,495

Sub-Total 6,495

2009-10 Highlights

• Summer Reading Camps (Lisle Foundation, Chen Foundation)

• Four new libraries in Burkina Faso• New Field Foundation Grant• UgCLA membership increase of 50%• Reading West Africa Program• Micro-Publishing• Library Conferences

Summer Reading Camps

• Five village libraries in Burkina Faso hosted summer reading camps thanks to a grant from the Lisle Foundation

• Six two-week camps hosted in community libraries in Ghana funded by Chen Foundation

• The camps were a huge success

New FAVL Libraries in Burkina Faso

• Four new libraries recently established– Boni• March 2009 with 925 books

– Dimikuy • October 2009 with a stock of 600 books

– Pobe-Mengao • March 2010 with 400 books

– Bougounam • October 2010 with 400 books

New Field Foundation Grant

• FAVL received a grant of $4,352 from the New Field Foundation fund to make both Boni and Dimikuy community libraries more attractive to girl readers

• This was completed by: – Providing more female oriented books– Publish 25 of four girl oriented microbooks– Conducting reading programs with female staff– Build two separate latrines: Male and Female– Build an outside reading circle

New Field Foundation Grant

A girl and boy latrine at the Dimikuy Community Library

Uganda Community Library Association

• UgCLA had a total of 42 member libraries by the end of 2009, increasing 50% since 2008

UgCLA hosted two conferences

• February 2009– UgCLA’s Annual General Meeting– “Libraries as Centers for Education and Development”

Workshop• Two day workshop• Attended by 35 • Participants included UgCLA library members and librarian of FAVL

managed Chalula Community Library

• July 2009– “Library Management” Workshop

• Two day workshop• Attended by 30

UgCLA Conference

(Right to Left) Alain Sissao, Kate Parry, and unidentified workshop attendee

Kwekitui Librarian’s Conference

• Tanzania Library supporters hosted the Kwekitui Librarian’s Conference in Lushoto on August 6th

• Conference was planned by FAVL supporter Sarah Switzer, Rodgers and Kate Parry

• Attendees included the literacy group Haki Elimu, visitors from Moshi, a Rwandan NGO called Ready for Reading, eleven members of UgCLA and the District Secondary School Education Officer.

Pan African “Reading for All” Conference

• Conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania• UgCLA contributed two presentations – Aug. 11 – Kate Parry and Daniel Ahimbisbwe spoke

about “What happens when you read a lot.”– Aug. 13 – Kate Parry and Grace Musoke spoke

about “An expanding movement” as a part of a colloquium on “An infrastructure for development: Community libraries in Uganda.”

Reading West Africa study abroad program

• FAVL, in partnership with Santa Clara University, launched its Reading West Africa program in 2009, and continued in 2010 (9 students each year)

• University students embarked on an intensive four-month immersion experience in Burkina Faso.

• The program offers five classes for students focusing on Francophone literature, development in West Africa, French Language and Photography

• The program consists of two parts:– First six weeks are spent in the capital, Ouagadougou– Second six weeks are spent interning at FAVL community

libraries

Reading West Africa

Reading West Africa students group photos in Hounde Town, Burkina Faso

Reading West Africa – Making books

• During the six weeks spent at FAVL libraries, students aligned their photography class with their village experiences to create culturally relevant children’s books

• Books are published using an online publishing platform provided by FastPencil

• Books are approximately $6.00 to publish• In 2009, RWA students published 23 books• In 2010, RWA students will produce another

27 books

Making Books – Microbooks

• The children books produced by RWA students are a part of FAVL’s microbook publishing initiative

• FAVL hopes to produce books featuring stories and photos from the villages where FAVL libraries reside

• These books will help inspire a reading culture by providing material that is of interest to the children reading them

• Most books will be printed in both the language of instruction and local languages

Micro-Books