READ international

READ International (www.readinternational.org.uk), winner of 'Best New UK Charity' in the 2007 Charity Times Awards, began life in 2003 as a Book Project, based at Nottingham University,
founded by a group of socially entrepreneurial students following a ‘gap year’
teaching in Tanzania. 
Now there are over 500 student volunteers involved, operating from a network of over 20 university sites across the UK. 

What we do:
We collect school textbooks and children’s literature from primary and secondary schools throughout the UK, sort the books and send the most relevant, up-to-date, and high quality books to schools in Tanzania and Uganda.  Any books collected which are not relevant or appropriate to send are sold online through our partnership with Better World Books or recycled to generate funding.

Tanzania and Uganda follow a secondary school syllabus almost identical
to the UK, but teachers often lack the resources needed to teach. In the
UK newer editions of books inevitably replace the old (very often only a
couple of years old though), which makes for good quality, but technically
‘out of date’ textbooks filling up school store rooms or ending up in landfill.
We send them to where they are really needed, improving access to
education to thousands of children in East Africa. 

READ has grown rapidly over the past 3 years since we launched on the
national stage in House of Commons in 2007. Since our first shipment of
books as an unregistered organisation in 2005, we have shipped a total
of 564,000 books to Tanzania and are supporting the renovation of
dozens of school libraries so that access to these books is also improved.
We have also sent several tonnes of sports kits, science equipment, and
school stationery. In Tanzania and Uganda we work closely with the Ministry
of Education to ensure that our books go to where they are most needed. 
Our work in UK schools has also developed.  We now deliver a workshop
programme called ‘Think Global’, to secondary schools throughout the UK,
in partnership with Oxfam GB to raise awareness of global citizenship to UK
school children.

Since registering as a charity we have had our work recognised in a number of ways.
Our founder and director Robert Wilson has; been winner of the prestigious Unltd
level 1 and 2 awards, been a finalist in the Enterprising Young Brit Awards 2006, won
the Social Enterprise Day Award 2006, been a finalist in the Edge Upstarts Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2008, and READ International was winner of 'Best New Charity' in the Charity Times Awards 2007.  READ are also finalists in the Charity Times Awards 2009 for Best Corporate Partnerships. 

Sending books to Tanzania
It never costs READ more than $1USD to move one book from a UK classroom into the hands of a Tanzanian school child or teacher.  Over the next 12 months we’re fundraising a total of $280,000 USD to fund the distribution of 280,000 textbooks to Tanzania schools in August 2010.

School Library Renovation Project
By providing schools with sets of textbooks to use in class, READ has increased the access a student has to knowledge. However, what is lacking throughout Tanzania is a culture of reading which not only inspires independent learning but reading for pleasure. Our Library Renovation Project aims to create spaces for students which are conducive both for study and leisure.
             
This is an entirely student-led initiative. READ volunteers from the UK and READ volunteers from Tanzanian schools take on the responsibility of the whole project from start to finish. The work and responsibility of the project is shared. For both the British and Tanzanian volunteers the time working on the library is an educational and enjoyable experience. Rather than being a British volunteer-led project, this collaborative process ensures the Tanzanian school student volunteers become invested in the project themselves, ensuring its durability and sustainability in the long run.

We follow the rule of “quality- first time round”. With every library renovation we establish reading groups and elect library prefects devoted to sustaining the
success and use of the library.

The cost to refurbish one school library is approximately $2,500USD.  This covers the costs of paint, painting materials, building materials, furniture, Kiswahili books purchased locally and READ International book donations from UK.  Remember all labor is supplied by Tanzanian and British student volunteers.