Asked & Answered

Giving Children Room to Read

Books are more than just a pastime for Room to Read founder Erin Ganju. They're passports to a better future. A lifelong love of reading and a wish to help others steered Ganju away from a career in international business and into the nonpro t sector. In 2000 she co-founded Room to Read, an organization that has so far provided libraries and schooling to 6 million
children in developing countries.

WorldArk: Why did you leave your job in the for-profit world to co-found Room to Read?

ERIN GANJU: This was an act of pure passion. i had a successful business career in investment banking and international business development, but i didn't loVe what i did. instead, i found myself dreaming of a job that would be consistent with what i am passionate about, with what i was meant to do. This was a sign that i needed to fi nd a way to integrate my personal values with my work. Thus, i decided to heed the words of John Burroughs who said "leap, and the net will appear" and become a social entrepreneur. By following my passion, i am not only much happier, but also more productive at my job, because i care deeply about what i do. My father was a professor and my mother was a social worker, and i grew up traveling and living abroad. i worked in Vietnam for almost three years in the mid-1990s establishing Unilever's business there. all of these factors combined to steer me in the direction of co-founding room to read.

Room to Read started in Nepal. Why?

Room to Read had its humble origins in 2000 in Nepal, where we began bringing donated books to rural communities. Many of these communities have illiteracy rates as high as 70 percent. John wood, my co-founder, had traveled in Nepal and after seeing an alarming lack of books in the schools, was moved to do something. room to read was founded on the belief that through action, we all have the capacity to make profound changes in our world. Today, we are a global organization dedicated to promoting education through programs focused on literacy and gender equality. we work in 10 countries in asia and africa. yet, more than 300 million children around the world do not have access to education and most likely will never learn to read or write. By empowering children through education, we see a world in which all children are able to realize their full potential.

How do you choose the countries in which you work?

We work in several countries in one region to stay cost-effective. we work in South asia, Southeast asia and Sub-Saharan africa. within a region, we select countries based on socioeconomic conditions, the applicability of room to read's programs to the educational needs of a country and the enabling environment that exists in a country for an international nonprofi t (political stability, nonprofi t landscape, natural partners, etc.). as a relatively small nonprofi t, however, one of the key determinants in our ability to expand into new countries is our ability to raise the funds to support additional countries without taking away from our current work.

What are some of the challenges you face once the libraries are set up?

The greatest challenges we face are training librarians and teachers how to manage the libraries and integrating libraries into school and classroom activities to have the greatest impact. our solution was to develop a more holistic literacy program that enables primary school children to become independent readers. room to read focuses on developing reading skills
and the habit of reading in primary

school students because literacy is the foundation for all future learning. We do this mainly by establishing libraries, increasing access to ageappropriate and culturally relevant reading materials and improving the child friendliness of the school environment. We have recently increased our support for reading instruction, including creating materials and providing training for teachers.

Tell me about the books you provide.

One of the greatest challenges to early adoption of the habit of reading in developing countries is a lack of highquality, age-appropriate children's books in the local language. Often, the few books that are available are either secondhand books in foreign languages or low-quality, black and white books for more mature readers. Rarely are there supplemental reading materials available which may be appropriate for children in the government public schools that we work in. Since we were unable to purchase such books to fill our school libraries, Room to Read went into the publishing business. Our book-publishing program provides children with materials that will inspire them to read, expand their minds and develop a lifelong love for learning. To help create a vibrant children's literature market, we also train writers and illustrators in the countries where we work. Our local language books are generally published in-country and distributed to school libraries. Room to Read has successfully published more than 550 titles in 25 languages in eight countries.

In some cultures, education—especially for girls—isn't valued. How do you address this in the communities where you work?

We have found parents and communities to be very enthusiastic about the educational investments we are making in their schools. Parents I meet around the world strive to ensure that their children have an easier and better life than they did and often point to education as a key component in making this happen.

It is true that we have, at times, faced some resistance to our Girls' Education program, a program focused on ensuring that girls remain in school through the end of secondary school. Educating girls and women is widely acknowledged as the most powerful and effective way to address global poverty. Women who finish secondary school earn more money, have smaller, healthier families, and are more likely to educate their own children—breaking the cycle of illiteracy in one generation. However, despite this reality, the barriers to education that girls in the developing world face go far beyond simple economics—cultural bias, tradition and safety concerns often stand in the way. Thus, we continue to work closely with parents and communities to ensure that they understand, and are comfortable with, how our Girls' Education program works.

What are the primary age groups you work with? Do you think there is an age at which children need to be reached—where intervention is necessary?

Our literacy program operates in primary schools, so for most countries, this is grades 1 through 5 or 6. For our Girls' Education program, we work with our scholars through the completion of secondary school or 12th grade. It is never too early nor too late to reach a child. There is always value in supporting a child to gain an education and help them reach their full potential in life.

How do you see Room to Read growing in the future?

The short answer is "much more of the same," as we feel confident we are having a profound impact in the communities where we work and that more communities that could benefit from Room to Read working in their schools! It will be important to ensure that future growth is consistent with improving the quality, and deepening the impact, of our program. The world needs a stronger focus on education as a cornerstone solution to solving other global issues, so there is
no lack of opportunities.