Frequently asked questions
children in a reading tent in Zambia

A reading tent in Zambia

How can I help?
The very best way you can support our work is by joining the Reverse Book Club: Four books for £5 ... and you'll never receive any of them! This regular giving scheme has already helped us send over 100,000 books to hundreds of libraries throughout sub-Saharan Africa! For every £5 donated through this club, we are able to send another four books to reach readers in some of the poorest countries in the world. Join now!

We also have loads of fundraising ideas and ways you can support us through taking part in events or making donations.

Lots of our supporters also want to give us the books that are on their bookshelves that they no longer use. We can actually only make use of brand-new books at the moment. We'd be really grateful if you could look carefully at our book donation guidelines which explain this more fully. If you do have second-hand books, you may wish to arrange a sale of the books to friends or colleagues and to then donate the proceeds to us - this can be fun as well as cost-effective!

Tell me more about Book Aid International
Book Aid International promotes literacy in developing countries by creating reading and learning opportunities for disadvantaged people, in order to help them realise their potential and eradicate poverty. We were founded in 1954, and in November 2006, Book Aid International sent its 25 millionth book to the developing world! Find out more about our history and our founder, Lady Hermione Ranfurly.

We work in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and over 95% of our work supports this extremely poor region of the world. We work in other countries when we can add value, for example by helping to rehabilitate libraries in conflict and post-conflict situations, and in the wake of natural disasters. Current work on this theme is our programme in Palestine, and a project in Sri Lanka (set up in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004).

Through our local partner organisations, we focus on the most disadvantaged communities, and support the use of creative approaches to give more people the access to information that they so desperately need. So for example, in rural areas our partners' creative solutions to reaching some of most isolated people in the world include using motorcycles, donkeys and even camels as mobile libraries.

How will my donations help?
You can read more about how and where we work. On average, its costs us around £1.25 to provide a new or as-new book to a library or other partner in the developing world, and each book is worth on average £7.84. This means that for every £10 you donate, we are able to send another 8 books worth around £60 to our partners!

Where do you get all the books from?
We are incredibly lucky that almost all the books we provide to our partners are donated to us, mainly by UK publishers, but also through a wide variety of other generous supporters. We purchase some books which are in high demand, but which we are unable to obtain as donations; and because of our great relationships with UK publishers, we often receive substantial discounts. We also make grants to our partners to enable them to purchase books from local publishers, enabling readers to access material that best reflects local context, culture and languages.

Tell me more about the books you send.
We send a huge variety of books to our partners! They range from children's first readers, right through to textbooks for doctors - and everything in between! Here are just some examples of the range of books we send:

Children's books: We provide school and public libraries with supplementary reading materials such as encyclopaedias, atlases, dictionaries and fiction (including titles published in Africa). These are essential for consolidating what pupils learn in class and developing their literacy skills.

Fiction: We all know how it feels to curl up with a favourite novel! We offer a range of fiction for adults and young people alike, with popular romance and English language classics enormously enjoyed by readers. Fiction offers escapism, pleasure, relaxation and a window on another world ... and so much more!

Vocational books: We send around 25,000 vocational books to partners a year, and this is a hugely popular programme covering books in subjects as varied as tourism, electronics, publishing, office skills and business studies. Unemployment rates are generally high in sub-Saharan Africa and most people in the region survive through subsistence agriculture. However, as more people move to the cities, new skills are needed. Employers need an increasingly educated workforce, and many governments are encouraging vocational training to stimulate their economies.

Teacher training: In 2006, we provided thousands of books to support vital programmes for teacher training in a number of our partner countries. The drive for universal primary education has led to a huge increase in the number of children attending school, yet sadly this has not been matched by an increased provision of essential resources. More books are needed in schools where pupils can share one book between ten and, crucially, more teachers need to be trained. For more information on the Global Campaign for Education, of which we are members, click here.

Health titles: For our health books programme, we make specialist health books and general titles available to medical schools, hospitals, and community health centres. None of them has adequate books for their readers, nor the budget to buy them. In 2006, we provided nearly 25,000 health books to our partner organisations in Africa.

These are just a tiny sample of the range of books that we send to partners.

Why do you work with libraries?
In sub-Saharan Africa, where only a minority can afford to buy books, libraries are often the only place where readers can gain access to the information they need. Books can truly change lives, offering people dignity and independence. The books we have provided to libraries in the developing world have helped people learn to read, entertained families, helped parents look after their children's health, and given adult learners vocational skills in subjects like IT and tourism.

Our partnerships are with local organisations that play a significant role in education, learning, development and the creation of literate environments. Library services can ensure equal access to books and information, but we also support schools and other educational establishments, and grassroots organisations working for community development. To read case studies of the libraries and other organisations we support, click here.

Our work with partners goes beyond book provision: we also offer training and support for librarians. We have provided training in leadership, advocacy and fundraising as well as practical skills for librarians, like targeting and distribution and reading promotion.

Why do you work mainly in sub-Saharan Africa?
Our focus is on sub-Saharan Africa because it is the poorest region in the world. We also work in other areas when we can add value, for example by helping to rehabilitate libraries in conflict and post conflict situations, and in the wake of natural disasters.

The countries we support in sub-Saharan Africa are selected on poverty levels (using the Human Development Index), the prevalence of English in education and society, and the level of development of the local publishing industry. We also work where there is a local partner organisation which is able to distribute books and ensure they reach the most disadvantaged people in the country. It is important for us to focus our limited resources where they can have the most benefit, which is why we use these criteria to decide where to work.

Why do you spend money on fundraising?
Fundraising is an investment, and we need to fundraise for every penny of our income. We spend money on fundraising for the sole purpose of raising more money to maintain our work. All our income is from voluntary sources - that means it's people like you, as well as companies, grant making trusts, governmental institutions, schools and other community groups who keep us afloat. We need fundraisers to keep in touch with all these groups of supporters, as well as to try to attract new people to help us. Our fundraisers have to work to tight budgets and have to prove that all fundraising activities are successful. You're welcome to read more in our Annual Accounts.

Why books? Why not more urgent supplies like medicine?
Our focus is on books because they are vital tools in life-long learning - as the saying goes: “Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach someone how to fish, and you feed them for life.” Books can also be shared by many, they last for years, and they are robust and easily transported. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are serious shortages of books and other information resources in almost all areas.

Books enable people to make a real change to their lives, for example by giving them information to help develop skills which can lead to increased crop yields, or ways to generate alternative sources of income if there is a poor harvest. Tertiary level books are important because university-educated experts are essential for economic development and local solutions to problems. More literate and highly-skilled people in developing countries will ultimately help to reduce the need for aid from the developed world.

Our work is about supporting sustainable and creative solutions over the long term. Most of us remember a book that changed our life: the books we send do that every day, and will continue to do so for generations to come.

How about new technologies and the internet?
We believe in improved access to information, whatever format it takes. Whenever possible we do provide partners with information in non-book formats, like CD-Roms or audio tapes. However, the current reality is that high costs of hardware and software, unreliable electricity and unreliable internet connectivity make it impossible for most sub-Saharan Africans to access computer based information. Even in larger institutions, this means that books are still the format that is most needed.

What are literate environments?
Book Aid International aims to support the development of literate environments across sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly for the most disadvantaged people in society, who include ex-child soldiers, orphans, refugees, and people with disabilities. Literate environments are those rich with written materials - books and documents, visual materials like posters, or electronic media. Literate environments help act as catalysts for learning and skills development, and help ensure that literacy skills are maintained.

How do you support indigenous publishing?
Most people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford to buy books, so it is not surprising that African publishing and bookselling are small industries. In some countries, such as Sudan, there is hardly any local publishing at all. Yet, the book trade is vital in the long term. Local authors must have opportunities to tell their stories through characters and events with which readers can readily identify. There is also a need for local knowledge to be recorded and shared widely, whether this concerns agricultural techniques or advances in tropical medicine.

For these reasons Book Aid International has been working with African initiatives for over a decade to strengthen the capacity of the book trade. One way we've been able to help is through a resource pack of training materials. We also make grants to our partners to enable them to purchase books from local publishers and booksellers.

Why do you support education in Africa?
Education is key to bridging the poverty gap between the developed and the developing world. Through education, people can be equipped with the means to tackle poverty, fulfil their potential and take more control over their futures. Education leads to improved health, nutrition, productivity and self-confidence. It provides the essential basis for sustainable development in all societies. Without education, people are denied the chance to gain the skills they need to contribute to the development of their communities. It is estimated that this year alone, failure to reach the United Nations' 2005 goal for educating girls means that more than a million mothers and children will die worldwide because they have been unable to learn about safe contraception and drinking water, or how to avoid disease in childhood.

Can you send some books to the school I support in Africa?
We actually work mainly with library services because they have good systems and infrastructures to distribute the books that we provide to a wide network of libraries, including school libraries and community libraries. They are also able to monitor which schools and other groups are receiving support and which are not - enabling them to direct our book support to where it is most needed. It is also important for us to be able to monitor through library services how the books we send are used, as we need to adjust our programmes when some types of information are more important to readers. It also means that we are able to keep our costs lower, because we are limiting the number of individual destinations that we are shipping to in each country.

Do you have any questions not answered here? Please email us at info@bookaid.org for more information.