OER contributing to early literacy in Africa: Evidence from Saide’s African Storybook

Abstract

There is a drastic shortage of local language contextually appropriate materials for African children learning to read. This a major reason for the low levels of literacy of all but the top 10 to 25% of Africa’s children. To contribute to addressing this challenge, Saide’s African Storybook initiative is testing an alternative publishing model. The website www.africanstorybook.org provides not only openly licensed stories for use, but also the tools for the translation of stories, and tools for the creation of stories, which are in turn openly licensed. The initiative was piloted in Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho and Uganda in 2014/2015, and in 2016 is being extended in those countries and expanded to new countries. // The paper provides evidence that ‘going the open way’ can produce the quantity of stories needed in the languages needed for young children to practise and learn to love reading. In addition, the digital open licence publishing approach of the African Storybook initiative both requires and stimulates teacher and community agency and encourages use. // Paper ID 346