Room to Read Annual Report 2012
Laying a Foundation for Literate Communities
letters from the ourboard leadership
Letter from the CEO
Dear Friends, At Room to Read, learning is at the heart of our programs and core operating principles. With 250 million of the world’s primary school age children unable to read and a disproportionately high dropout rate for girls in secondary school, we recognize that there is a tremendous global need for strategic, impactful educational programming. To meet this need and provide quality education for as many children as possible, we are passionately dedicated to learning from our experience so that we can continually improve and scale our work. In 2012, this learning approach was reflected in our efforts to create the most effective, integrated and holistic approach to some of the greatest challenges facing children in Asia and Africa in early literacy acquisition. These challenges include insufficient teacher training and support, a focus on memorization over comprehension and a lack of instructional materials. To address these issues, we focused on evolving our literacy programming to provide early primary grade teachers with in-service training and coaching based on international best practices that promote childcentered, interactive teaching methods. Armed with an enhanced skill set from this support, the dedicated teachers in our programs are now creating more exciting, print-rich classroom environments and employing more interactive lessons that effectively support the acquisition of reading and writing skills. These new teacher trainings, along with Room to Read libraries filled with engaging, ageappropriate reading materials in local languages, are inspiring enhanced levels of learning in
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classrooms across Asia and Africa. With these integrated forms of support, children are learning to read and write faster and with higher levels of mastery than ever before. During my travels from Vietnam to South Africa in 2012, I was thrilled to hear teachers comment on the changes they are seeing in students who participated in our 1st grade program. They noted that these students are entering 2nd grade with the highest reading levels the teachers have ever witnessed during their careers and that this exciting learning trajectory is continuing throughout Grade 2. In addition to our efforts to improve our literacy programming, we also focused in 2012 on continuing to develop and hone our Girls’ Education program, especially in regards to life skills training. With the creation of modules that can be contextualized and adapted for every country where we work, we are better able to ensure that every girl in our program is equipped with empowering skills, ranging from critical thinking to career planning. Additionally, the Girls’ Education program created a new guide to link girls with opportunities to receive support for continuing their education at the tertiary level. As Room to Read continues to challenge itself to innovate and evolve, we are also learning from new partnerships. University relationships are allowing us to enhance our research, monitoring and evaluation activities, facilitating deeper insight into children’s reading preferences and skill development. Technology partnerships are enabling us to provide field staff with new laptops and tablets, increasing our data collection efficiency and our ability to provide rapid feedback on student progress and needs. I invite you to read more about these and other key activities from 2012 in this annual report. Without you, none of this would have been possible. All of us at Room to Read want to share our deepest gratitude for your partnership and for helping us give children across Asia and Africa the much needed and deserved opportunity to reach their full potential through the power of quality education.
Erin Ganju CEO and Co-Founder
room to read annual report 2012
Letter from the Board Chairs
Dear Friends, 2012 was another exciting and impactful year for Room to Read, and we want to start this annual report with a big thank you to all who have helped us to make so much progress. We all know that without education, none of us would be where we are today. Many of us were lucky enough to be born in the right place at the right time and likely had some lucky breaks or key people helping us along the way. John made ample use of the library in both his community and his public school while growing up in a small town in a middle-class family. Tim propelled his way through several university degrees with the aid of scholarships and side jobs. For both of us, education was a hand up, not a handout. We both know that we were fortunate to have the opportunity to go to school, work hard and pursue our dreams, with great teachers helping us along the way. It is because of this that we are so dedicated to Room to Read and grateful to have you with us on this journey. We want every child worldwide—girl and boy—to be able to access the educational opportunities they deserve. This is why we focus on promoting literacy, which is essential to all future learning, and gender equality in education, because everyone, everywhere, should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. When the world is full of a generation of educated women and men, progress will truly begin to happen. As we scale our programs around the world, we are thrilled to see more and more families supporting children of both genders to attend school. It is both inspiring and humbling to meet parents who are willing to go to any length for their children’s education because they know it will
transform their futures. One such parent, Mr. Hiep in Vietnam, is so committed to keeping his two daughters and son in school that he wakes daily at 1 a.m. to begin his day’s labor as a carpenter, generally working on no more than four hours of sleep. Mr. Hiep explains his dedication by saying, “If I were to give my children land, they could sell it and spend the money, but if I give them education, they will always have it.” We share Mr. Hiep’s belief in the power of education, which is why we work so diligently to continually expand our presence around the globe. In 2012, this diligence led to several exciting new milestones, including the establishment of our 5,000th library in India, the construction of our first 15 classroom blocks in our newest country of Tanzania, and the enrollment of our 20,000th participant in our Girls’ Education program. In total, we were able to reach more than 1.1 million children with our programming last year, bringing the total number of children we have benefitted to more than 7.8 million! As these millions of children grow up beside each other in the classroom and are empowered to follow new dreams, they become an army of education advocates and catalysts for change. Attaining worldwide literacy and gender equality in education is a bold goal. But for every student we reach we get one step closer to the day where one’s gender or birthplace no longer determines one’s fate. We thank you, our dedicated partners, for joining us in our quest to bring quality educational opportunities to children around the world. With your continued passion, energy and support, we can help communities throughout Asia and Africa build cultures of respect in which education is a right for all, rather than an unattainable dream.
John Wood Founder and Board Co-Chair
Tim Koogle Co-Chair
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room to read annual report 2012
Achievements in Literacy Room to Read’s Literacy programs enable primary school children to become lifelong independent readers.
achievements in literacy
Leading through
room to read annual report 2012
Innovation
Belief in innovation is core to Room to Read’s philosophy. As an organization, we are not afraid to break new ground in order to achieve our goals and remain a leader on the cutting edge of educational program development. In 2012, that meant an increased focus on training teachers, librarians and other stakeholders in the communities where we work, since training is one of the greatest indicators of sustainability for education projects. We also worked to identify and fill remaining gaps in addressing children’s literacy in the countries where we work.
Maximizing the Library Period Having a school-based library period—time set aside during the week for students to use the library resources and check out books—is central to helping children develop a habit of reading. Because this dedicated time plays such an important role, our team identified and developed guidelines over the past year to define the key activities that should occur during the library period. After seeing the impact of Room to Read’s school libraries on students in government schools, Vietnam’s Ministry of Education adopted Room to Read’s guidelines for the effective use of the library period for all schools in two provinces—Can Tho and Thai Nguyen. In addition to acting as an incredible endorsement of our work, this decision extends several benefits of our program to 92,120 students at 230 schools that to date have not received any direct support from Room to Read.
Cracking the Code Reading fluency is the bridge between two major components of literacy: word decoding and reading comprehension. It is defined by the rate at which a person can correctly read words on a page. It is also a common indicator worldwide for how a child’s literacy skills are progressing. But in Cambodia, because of the complicated nature of the Khmer script, few people have ever tried to measure Khmer-language fluency or set targets for young readers in the language. In order to address this issue, our team in Cambodia worked with nationally recognized
linguists to “crack the code.” By measuring the reading skills and comprehension of the students in our schools, the team was able to set target fluency rates for grades 1-3, helping Room to Read and the teachers we work with more accurately monitor student progress against program-wide standards for early readers and focus support on the students who need it most.
Bridging the Gap between Skills and Habit For children learning to read, the leap from words learned in 1st and 2nd grade classrooms to the story books found on the shelves of a library can be challenging. In order to help ease this transition, our Book Publishing and Reading & Writing Instruction teams in Bangladesh collaborated in 2012 to begin developing Room to Read’s first-ever “decodable” readers. Decodable texts are books that contain only the sounds that children are learning in school, and they increase in length and complexity as students acquire new knowledge. For teachers, they are an important bridge between teaching early literacy skills and getting children in the habit of reading for comprehension. The first set of decodable texts will be created in 2013 at our annual writers’ and illustrators’ workshops, where participants will learn the techniques needed to create such stories.
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achievements in literacy
Improving Program
room to read annual report 2012
Efficiency
One of the key ingredients in Room to Read’s success over the years has been a continuous focus on program improvement. In addition to design, this means dedicating energy and resources to enhancing our program operations—leveraging our years of experience in various contexts to become more strategic in our implementation. In 2012 this meant piloting program improvements, amending operations to save costs and locating partners who could make our business practices more efficient.
The Right Foundation Building materials are one of the most expensive aspects of our construction work, especially in Africa. Even with our Challenge Grant model—in which partner communities co-invest in our construction projects with cash and in-kind donations of labor and materials—the high cost of building materials remains a challenge. In seeking to eschew some of those costs, for the third consecutive year our team in Zambia worked with Lafarge, a multinational cement manufacturer, to procure donated cement for all of our constructed library buildings. These efforts not only ensure a quality of construction that we can be proud of, but also allow Room to Read to allocate a greater share of our limited resources to library management training, furniture and educational resources.
Trimming Printing Costs
Repair and Renovation
As our 800th original local-language book went to press, our team sharpened its focus on improving the cost efficiency of our Book Publishing program. In partnership with the Pearson Foundation, we worked with an editorial fellow to develop a plan for growth and used those recommendations to introduce operational enhancements, which led to significant cost savings worldwide. In Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia, where printing is particularly expensive, our teams engaged in a multiple bidding process, soliciting pricing estimates from over 75 printers. Trim sizes were also adjusted (in some cases by less than 1/4 inch) to ensure cost-effectiveness. Together, these efforts significantly reduced our projected cost per book for 2013 and beyond.
In past years, when our School Construction program identified a project site, we would focus our efforts on new construction only, leaving the older classrooms at a school in their current states even if they did not meet our standards for effective learning environments. In 2012, using evidence-based research on the elements of school infrastructure that have the greatest effects on learning, we launched our first repair and renovation projects at schools in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal, all for less than half the cost of new classroom construction. By upgrading lighting and ventilation, adding new furniture and ceilings, and repairing damaged flooring, roofs, walls and blackboards, we were able to vastly improve the learning conditions in buildings that were otherwise structurally sound. Based on the success of these initial projects, we will continue to integrate repair and renovation into our core School Construction work in the coming years.
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achievements in literacy
Building a Culture
room to read annual report 2012
of Literacy
In order to achieve lasting impact on literacy rates and inculcate a habit of reading among children, a culture of literacy must filter throughout a community at every level. By engaging parents and other stakeholders in our program activities, we seek to create an environment where reading is not only valued, but also an intrinsic part of everyday life. From School Libraries to Book Publishing, School Construction to Reading & Writing Instruction, we have always worked closely with school administrations to ensure that community engagement activities are prioritized. This past year was no different. In 2012 we focused on documenting best practices and developing global guidelines to enhance our work. Locally, our teams in all countries of operation continued to find new and unique ways to build a culture of literacy in all of our partner communities across Asia and Africa.
Honoring Storytelling Traditions
Model Behavior
Armed with a tape recorder and a notebook, our Book Publishing team in Zambia embarked on a journey to bridge the gap between the country’s rich tradition of oral storytelling and our work promoting literacy. The team visited villages throughout Zambia’s Eastern Province, inviting elders from the community to share folk stories that are culturally or historically significant within their particular community. The resulting recordings will be incorporated into our writers’ and illustrators’ workshops in the future, where they will be transformed into story books for young readers.
Because many adults in the communities where we work are illiterate, our School Libraries can initially seem intimidating. In order to demystify the concept for parents at one of our partner schools in India, we established a model library in the village center, including tables and chairs, bags of books and makeshift shelving. Open for one day, the model library gave community members a closer look at the resources they would find inside their newly opened School Library. Children from the school acted as librarians, and teachers were present to explain the various volunteer opportunities available to parents in the community.
Hitting the Airwaves In an effort to increase awareness of our libraries and promote literacy in the surrounding communities, our team in Cambodia took to the airwaves, launching a weekly radio program to encourage children and their parents to call in and read their favorite books. Each story is then discussed on air, as are additional topics related to reading. In addition to enabling children from our partner schools to demonstrate their budding literacy skills, the radio program has also been extremely successful in reminding local residents about the importance (and fun!) of reading.
Tailoring Our Activities In Laos, our Reading & Writing Instruction program operates across a variety of contexts, representing both rural and urban communities—a fact that can affect parental participation in our program activities. In predominantly agricultural communities, for example, many parents are unable to attend meetings and events during times of harvest, while parents in more urban environments are unavailable during traditional business hours of 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. In response to this discrepancy,
our team developed customized parent engagement plans in 2012 that complement the schedules of each individual community. Since implementing the new format, strong participation has been reported at every one of the schools where we currently operate, culminating in September when our International Literacy Day celebrations drew crowds in the thousands.
Engaging Community Leaders Seeking to increase the number of parent volunteers, our School Libraries team in South Africa’s rural provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga worked with school administration to hold meetings with tribal leaders in their surrounding communities. The meetings focused on mobilizing greater community participation in library activities, and led to a marked increase in parent volunteers and higher attendance at literacy events. By working within the existing structures of the communities we serve, our teams are able to lay a foundation for library sustainability right from the start.
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achievements in literacy
Finding Strength
through Partnership
room to read annual report 2012
By collaborating with governments, local organizations and corporations, our programs become vastly stronger than the sum of their parts. In 2012, our work supporting literacy gained added depth thanks to the specialized knowledge and expertise of strategic partners. We also worked more closely than ever with local governments in an effort to extend our impact far beyond the walls of the individual schools we now serve. Through cooperation and shared responsibility, we believe it is possible to effect long-term, systemic change on the educational landscape of our program countries.
Drawing on Skilled Talent Authors and illustrators are some of Room to Read’s most instrumental partners, having produced numerous award-winning titles. In 2012, we enlisted two notable experts from Pixar Animation Studios to enhance that winning formula and bring their creative expertise to our illustrators’ workshops in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. The artists brought insights from their own experiences crafting engaging, beautiful art for children, and helped guide Room to Read illustrators in honing their own skills.
Diving into Kiswahili In order to fill the shelves of Room to Read’s first School Libraries in Tanzania, our team worked with longtime partners at the Pearson Foundation to procure 20,000 copies of engaging children’s books in Kiswahili, the national language of Tanzania. Taken from the Junior African Writers Series and the Tinga Tinga tales, the books will sit alongside the first copies of Room to Read’s original Kiswahili-language titles, providing crucial variety for young readers in the rural Morogoro region.
Shaping Library Policy
In 2012, Room to Read celebrated the opening of our 5,000th school library in India. After observing our success over the past 10 years establishing libraries across the country, India’s national Ministry of Education recommended Room to Read’s library manual as a guiding document for school libraries in all states. In support of the partnership, Room to Read staff in Chhattisgarh held specialized library management training for government personnel and UNICEF representatives to help them put the manual into practice.
Influencing Curriculum Based on classroom observations of schools implementing our Reading & Writing Instruction program, Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport used the concepts and activities in our 1st grade workbook to rewrite the national curriculum. The new textbook, heavily influenced by Room to Read’s approach to teaching early literacy skills, is now the official text for all 1st grade classrooms across Cambodia. Plans are now in place to replicate this process for the 2nd grade curriculum in subsequent years.
Sharing Our Knowledge An evaluation of our work by Nepal’s Social Welfare Council, the government body tasked with regulating NGOs, found that Room to Read had made a significant impact on children’s learning and recommended that the government become more active in supporting our efforts. In 2012, this led to a commitment by the National Center for Education Development to incorporate the best practices from Room to Read’s educator professional development into the national government program for teacher training. We also began to provide library training, books and monitoring to the government for use in supporting school libraries outside of Room to Read’s purview.
Leading the Conversation In July, our team in Zambia hosted the country’s first-ever national literacy symposium in partnership with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. University professors, ministry officials and our staff convened to discuss the educational priorities. The meeting led to a renewed commitment by the government to focus on early grade literacy, including an amendment to the national education policy to make mother tongue instruction compulsory through 4th grade (rather than only in 1st grade). 12
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Achievements in Gender Equality in Education Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program supports girls to complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions.
achievements in gender equality in education
Creating a Supportive
room to read annual report 2012
School Environment
The school environment is a key element in ensuring that girls are able to succeed academically and socially. By expanding our program over the past several years to include entire cohorts of girls from a particular school, Room to Read has the ability to improve the girl-friendliness and academic achievement levels of entire schools. Working together with school administrations, we identify the barriers that currently exist, and individually address each one. In 2012, our team focused on standardizing these activities across all countries of operation and making our partner schools a safe and enriching environment for all girls.
Learning Life Skills
Mastering the ABCs
One of the advantages of working with entire cohorts of girls is the ability to plan our program activities in coordination with a school’s existing schedule. In Vietnam, this means holding our life skills sessions on Saturdays, when elective classes are also offered. In addition to the prescribed lessons taught by our social mobilizers, the Saturday schedule also includes peer mentorship. Girls who are identified as being leaders among their peers are selected to facilitate small group conversations with the other program participants, providing a more informal outlet to discuss any issues the girls are facing in or outside of school.
Academic support is a core component of our program in all countries, consisting of regular tutoring sessions and specialized exam preparation sessions. In Zambia, where the exam to enter secondary school is administered in English, it became clear in 2012 that English proficiency was a major factor impeding girls’ ability to move on in school and that additional academic support was needed. In order to address this issue, Room to Read staff met with government officials and local organizations to formulate an action plan. After analyzing the data available and discussing options, our team decided to implement a remedial reading program that would target girls in 6th through 8th grades. By addressing the deficit in English-language proficiency, our teams hope the girls will improve academically in all subjects and gain greater confidence.
Tools for Teachers One crucial aspect of our work with secondary schools is addressing the deeply held gender bias that exists in many of the communities where we work, and ensuring it does not extend into the classroom. In Chhattisgarh, India, this included a two-day Gender-Responsive Teaching workshop, designed to build awareness and provide teachers with the tools needed to ensure instructional equality for both genders. Because a negative school environment can seriously affect a girl’s academic performance and motivation in school, the workshops focused on identifying common roadblocks to instructional equality and creating a gender-sensitive classroom environment.
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achievements in gender equality in education
Preparing
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room to read annual report 2012
for the Future
Helping girls to complete secondary school has always been the primary goal of our Girls’ Education program, but what happens after graduation is equally important. Our program also helps girls develop the skills they need to make key life decisions in the years during and after their secondary education. After completing school, each alumna of our program has many options for her family life and career—she might pursue tertiary education, start a small business or be the first woman in her village to take on a leadership role. In 2012, our team placed extra emphasis on developing the materials and strategies to ease this transition and help each girl find and pursue her own path.
Easing Transitions
Entrepreneurship 101
Putting Skills into Practice
Many of the girls in our program are the first in their families to attend or complete secondary school. As a result, the path that follows graduation may be entirely unfamiliar to them. This is especially true in Bangladesh, where the remote nature of our project locations means that we serve many isolated families. In 2012, our team took steps to illuminate the various options that are available to girls and their families after secondary school. This included the production and distribution of a handbook that provides context and information to help girls envision their future. The new handbook, titled “Aim in Life,” helps guide discussions between girls and their parents about future plans. The inaugural copies of the “Aim in Life” handbook were distributed during a launch event attended by more than 800 people in the Sirajganj district. At the ceremony, prominent Bangladeshi professional women shared their own stories of success and encouraged the girls in our program to dream big.
Through a partnership with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, a select number of 12th grade girls in India had the opportunity to start and run their own business for one day. After attending seminars on budgeting, planning and accountability, each girl developed a business plan that detailed the resources, marketing efforts and staff required to make her project successful. Using the life skills acquired through participation in our Girls’ Education program and their newfound business acumen, the girls then embarked on their proposed business venture—an exercise in real-life entrepreneurship.
Several girls in our program in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province expressed an interest in gaining practical work experience to pair with their life skills training. To address this desire, our Girls’ Education and Reading & Writing Instruction teams worked together to train 22 girls on the assessment tools and knowledge needed to serve as data collection interns for our Reader Fluency Study. At the end of the training, 12 of the girls were chosen as official data collection interns, tasked with helping to assess the reading fluency of primary school students throughout Siem Reap province. In addition to gaining practical experience, the girls were also able to practice skills such as communication, relationship-building and critical thinking. At the end of the study, each intern had earned a recommendation letter for completing her data collection work with responsibility and professionalism.
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achievements in gender equality in education
Engaging Families
and Communities
room to read annual report 2012
The barriers that keep girls from completing secondary school in Asia and Africa at the same rate as their male peers extend beyond simple economics. Tradition, cultural bias and safety concerns often stand in the way. As a result, long-term gains in promoting gender equality in education can only be achieved by mobilizing entire communities around the importance of keeping girls in school. In 2012, we continued to find success in engaging parents and community leaders in our program. We also encouraged men and boys in our target communities to join the conversation—becoming active participants in creating a supportive environment for students of both genders.
Setting the Stage In Laos and Sri Lanka, students used the power of the theater to support gender equality in their schools. Our Laos team marked the first-ever International Day of the Girl Child in October with a festival that included girls dramatizing scenes from Room to Read’s local language books and then sharing their individual stories—highlighting the challenges girls face in their community. In Sri Lanka, male and female students came together to form a street theater group, the Bibile Scholars. Their original play—centered on the importance of girls’ education—earned the students a spot in Sri Lanka’s National Children’s Theatre Festival, televised nationwide.
Empowerment “On Air” Radio is the most ubiquitous form of mass communication in the communities where we work. On International Women’s Day, our team in Uttarakhand, India teamed up with their local radio station to deliver a new kind of programming. Ten girls from our Girls’ Education program and two social mobilizers took to the airwaves, sharing their individual stories and demonstrating the power of girls’ education. The program was broadcast far and wide, with each of the girls speaking about her
aspirations for the future and how she is succeeding in school despite overwhelming obstacles.
Educating Parents Parent involvement is paramount to the success of our Girls’ Education program. As we launched our program in Tanzania in 2012, our team immediately began to form parent committees at each school. The committees hold monthly meetings that have as many as 100 parents in attendance, elect their own officers and are jointly responsible with our field staff for monitoring the school attendance of each girl in our program. In Zambia’s Kafue district, our team sought to help parents understand the broader benefits of educating their daughters, such as health, higher earning potential and personal safety. We brought parents and village leaders together to discuss the importance of gender equality in education. In a follow-up meeting, the Victim Support Unit of the local police joined our discussion, illuminating the link between girls’ education and the prevention of gender-based violence.
Acting as Advocates In the remote region of Bardiya, Nepal, many of the girls we work with have been recently rescued from the country’s Kamlari system of indentured servitude. Beyond helping the girls enroll in school for the first time, the success of our program is incumbent upon developing a broader understanding within the community of the effects of the Kamlari system. In 2012, we held seminars for parents and teachers to educate them on the particular needs of ex-Kamlari and at-risk girls. We also held community outreach sessions to explain the laws already in place that prohibit child labor and indentured servitude. Many of the girls in our program even participated in the local meetings— sharing their experiences as Kamlari with community leaders in an effort to help turn the tide.
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Measuring Success and Putting Data to Work
At Room to Read, we follow the adage that “what gets measured gets done.” Tracking our progress and monitoring each individual project has been an essential part of our DNA since the very beginning. In 2012, we sharpened the focus of our Research, Monitoring and Evaluation activities, placing priority on using data analysis and evaluation to improve our program design.
Our Impact in 2012
Book Publishing Titles Printed
In 2012, Room to Read concluded a multi-country study aimed at exploring the sustainability of our School Libraries. Data collection for the study included independent evaluators funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation visiting 517 libraries in Cambodia, Nepal and South Africa that had “graduated” from our program and are now operating without support from Room to Read. Results from the first phase of the study indicated that 98 percent of the libraries were still functioning on their own and that the success rate for library sustainability rose more than 25 percent after Room to Read introduced a three-year training and support period for our projects. Phase two of the study involved collection of qualitative information from a subset of libraries, including in-depth interviews and focus groups, to determine the factors that contribute to long-term success.
Cumulative Total
A Framework for Success
1,925
School Libraries Established
15,089
Cumulative Total
84
School Construction Projects Completed
1,676
Cumulative Total
167 874
1,005
Schools Receiving Reading & Writing Instruction Support
17,740
Girls’ Education Program Participants
20,375
Cumulative Total
7.8
million
Total Children Benefitted to Date 21
Spotlight on Sustainability
Ongoing assessment is a crucial part of the learning process. In 2012, our Reading & Writing Instruction program focused on building a framework for teachers—and our staff—to track student progress in our partner schools. We started by making ongoing assessment an essential part of our teacher professional development activities, helping teachers learn how to use regular “spot-checks” to tailor their lessons appropriately to students’ skills. From there, our team developed assessments to evaluate the impact of our program, comparing students in our program with peers at demographically similar schools that are not receiving Room to Read support. This includes long-term evaluations that track progress throughout the year and “snapshot” assessments that provide insight into students’ reading skills at a given moment in time. First
to conduct these snapshot assessments was our team in Bangladesh, where we found that 40 percent of 1st grade students participating in our program could read at least 40 words per minute. By contrast, less than 10 percent of students at control schools could accomplish the same task.
Polling Our Audience Always looking to improve the quality of our libraries and the children’s books inside of them, Room to Read launched an in-depth study in Cambodia aimed at developing a better understanding of what types of books most appeal to the young readers. Researchers from the University of Texas conducted extensive interviews at four libraries in Cambodia, and released a report in 2012 confirming that the quality of books published by Room to Read is extremely high. The report also recommended two kinds of books that should be added in larger quantities to our libraries in an effort to increase student use: beginning reader texts and non-fiction books. In late 2012, our team used the methodology and findings from the Cambodia-based study to develop a set of worldwide field testing guidelines for book manuscripts.
Assessing Life Skills Life skills training is both a key component of our Girls’ Education program and critical to girls’ success in life after secondary school. In order to ensure we can track each girl’s individual progress in addition to regional or worldwide trends, our team focused in 2012 on developing assessments for the effectiveness of Room to Read’s life skills curriculum. In 2013, these new measurement tools and techniques will be piloted across Asia and Africa.
room to read annual report 2012
RESULTS IN Literacy
22% 100%
of our School Construction projects included significant community co-investment.
increase from 2011 in the number of books checked out per child.
305
new local authors and illustrators worldwide were trained in producing children’s literature.
RESULTS IN GENDER EQUALITY in education
94%
Worldwide program retention.
798
Number of secondary schools graduated from our program.
1st
cohort of girls in Zambia graduated from secondary school and joined our alumnae network.
20,00 th 0
Our Girls’ Education program enrolled its
20,000 th student.
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Building a Global Movement In 2012, Room to Read continued to strengthen our global brand and position ourselves as leaders in literacy and girls’ education. Through major media initiatives, strategic speaking opportunities, support from our incredible chapter network and innovative partnerships, awareness of our work continued to grow.
Ontario, Canada Students from 10 universities across Canada camped out inside their school libraries for one week to raise both funds and awareness for Room to Read.
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San Francisco, USA Room to Read was awarded Charity Navigator’s 4-star (highest) rating for the seventh year in a row—a recognition less than 2 percent of rated charities can claim.
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Washington, DC, USA Room to Read partnered with the Washington, DC Public Library system to hold a series of events in celebration of International Literacy Day. Students of all ages participated in read-alongs and craft activities designed to promote global awareness.
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✱ New York City, USA
Suma, one of our Girls’ Education program participants from Nepal, took the stage at Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s Women in the World Summit to perform a song she wrote about her life in servitude and her struggle to earn an education. Suma’s story is featured in the 2013 theatrical documentary, Girl Rising.
✱ San Juan, Puerto Rico
Five members of Room to Read’s international staff were invited to speak on our literacy strategy and successes at the annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society.
Our Chapter Network
Room to Read chapters play a critical role in the growth and sustainability of our organization. Chapter members serve as both ambassadors and fundraisers for the organization worldwide.
51
chapters
16
countries
Raised nearly
12,000 volunteers
23
30%
of Room to Read’s annual revenue
room to read annual report 2012
oxford, ENGLAND Room to Read was invited to share our work and collaborate with like-minded organizations at the Skoll World Forum and World Literacy Summit.
Sirajganj, Bangladesh To highlight the importance of literacy among policy makers, government officials and local communities, our team in Bangladesh held three days of literacythemed events to honor International Literacy Day.
Geneva, Switzerland The Global Journal named Room to Read in its inaugural list of the world’s Top 100 NGOs.
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Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Zurich, Switzerland
Three students from our Girls’ Education program in Vietnam shared their stories with Pulitzer Prize– winning journalist Nicholas Kristof and actress Gabrielle Union in the PBS television documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.
Room to Read’s Zurich chapter used endurance to fuel our global movement, launching a worldwide yoga benefit and running the alpine Jungfrau Marathon to raise funds for girls’ education. Delhi, India & Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Top cricket players Virat Kohli of India and Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka took a break from their preparations for the World T20 Tournament to visit Room to Read libraries in their respective countries and celebrate local-language books based on their personal stories.
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Maldive Islands
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Soweto, South Africa Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, participated in the opening of a “Container Library” in Soweto, a joint project of Room to Read and two other foundations.
In collaboration with the South and Central Asia Bureau, U.S. Department of State, Room to Read’s Book Publishing and School Libraries teams provided technical assistance to the Department of Education in the Maldive Islands in its efforts to improve early grade literacy.
✱ ✱ ✱ Hong Kong & Singapore
Room to Read chapters held two of our largest singleevening fundraisers ever, just one night apart.
Sydney, Australia Students across Australia partnered with Stubbies Schoolwear in our largest student fundraising campaign to date, the World Change Challenge. Together, the students raised enough money to fund a freestanding library for their peers in Cambodia.
✱
MEDIA COVERAGE
24
Institutional Funders
Financial and in-kind support from corporations, foundations and government partners allow Room to Read to take our vision to scale. Contributing nearly 40 percent of our total support in 2012, these institutional partners not only provide crucial funding to our efforts, but also spread awareness of our mission within their networks.
Artha Capital supports Room to Read through the funding of constructed schools and libraries across Asia in addition to supporting the Girls’ Education program. Artha Capital also provides funding to enable the development and enhancement of projects critical to Room to Read’s mission of transforming the lives of children through programs focused on literacy and gender equality in education. Atlassian donates all proceeds from the sales of US$10 Starter Licenses that provide startups and small teams with fully-supported software and helps Atlassian generate new business. Through this initiative, Atlassian has raised $2,500,000 for Room to Read’s programs in Asia. Atlassian aims to reach 250,000 children through Room to Read by the end of 2014. Barclays has partnered with Room to Read since 2008, funding the development of libraries, local language book publications and girls’ education. The programs have benefited over 90,000 25
children in Cambodia, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and South Africa. Barclays colleagues globally are involved with Room to Read, participating in fundraising events and raising awareness of the work of the organization. Barclays has supported Room to Read’s commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to enhance education for nearly one million girls.
raising educational standards with the long term goal of increasing employability. Bloomberg’s collaboration with Room to Read since 2008 has included the funding of half a million local language books and story cards for literacy programs in Asia and—since 2012—support for over 2,000 girls in the Girls’ Education program in Asia for the next three years.
Over a six year grant period, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting Room to Read’s strategic planning efforts as well as cross-national evaluations of our Libraries and Book Publishing programs. The foundation has also supported a library post-completion study to identify the success factors that have contributed to schools’ abilities to sustain their libraries once Room to Read’s support has ended and will support a library resource integration study focused on the effective use of reading materials by librarians, teachers and students.
Caterpillar Foundation is providing four years of secondary education to 1,200 girls and establishing 50 libraries that will serve more than 16,000 children in India and Vietnam.
Bloomberg supports pioneering approaches to closing the achievement gap for disadvantaged young people and
Credit Suisse is one of Room to Read’s largest corporate funders and currently supports Room to Read’s Reading & Writing Instruction program and the Girls’ Education program through its Global Education Initiative. Credit Suisse also donates office space for Room to Read staff in Hong Kong, London, Tokyo and Sydney.
room to read annual report 2012
Through Goldman Sachs and Goldman Sachs Gives, the firm and its senior executives have contributed millions of dollars to Room to Read. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women also supports an Entrepreneurial Skills Package for the Girls’ Education program in India while enabling the holistic education of 400 high school girls over three years. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women is a $100 million, five-year campaign to foster greater shared economic growth by providing 10,000 underserved women around the world with a business and management education.
Top Institutional Funders (1/1/2012-12/31/2012)
In 2012, the Origin Foundation provided substantial support for Room to Read’s eventual expansion into Indonesia by investing in the Book Publishing program. Once we initiate program operations, Origin Foundation’s funding will enable us to publish 15 new local-language children’s books.
Caterpillar Foundation
$500,000 and over Artha Capital Atlassian Foundation Barclays Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Credit Suisse
Hoglund Foundation Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation InMaat Foundation ICAP (Hong Kong) Limited ICICI Foundation Lululemon
Goldman Sachs
Microsoft
South and Central Asia Bureau, U.S. Department of State
Squidoo
$250,000-$499,999 Origin Foundation Rajawali Foundation
Newman’s Own Foundation Symphasis Charitable Foundation Tolemedes Foundation United Way Worldwide on behalf of Target Corporation
Skoll Foundation Symantec Corporation
$100,000-$249,999 Burger King McLamore Foundation
Skoll Foundation supports Room to Read’s efforts to build organizational capacity in order to scale across multiple countries in Asia and Africa. Through its award that recognizes leadership in social entrepreneurship, Skoll provided core support to Room to Read’s key initiatives in human resources, programmatic design and development, fundraising, monitoring and evaluation.
Fossil (East) Limited
Room to Read partners with the South and Central Asia Bureau, U.S. Department of State, to support teacher and librarian trainings and capacity building initiatives for local authors and illustrators in South Asia. The Department of State is also supporting the establishment of libraries, creation of local language book publications and the Girls’ Education program across South Asia.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.
Symantec Corporation has supported hundreds of girls through our Girls’ Education program. Symantec also helped to launch our programs in Maharashtra, India by providing core operating and programmatic support and is helping to expand our literacy programs throughout India.
CLSA Asia Pacific Markets
Four Acre Trust Hilton Worldwide Jones Day Foundation Reliable Source Industrial Royal Bank of Scotland The Charitable Foundation The Sherwood Foundation Tiger Ventures Limited
Top In-Kind Donors Berry Bros. & Rudd Brother’s Brother Foundation Cisco Systems, Inc. Credit Suisse Financial Times (Pearson) Hilton Worldwide Ketchum Lafarge Lenovo Moët Hennessey Asia Pacific Reliance Capital The Asia Foundation
UNICEF
$50,000-$99,999 ABeam Consulting Ltd. Better World Books Bol.com C12 Capital Management LP Clifford Chance Foundation Coach Foundation Dining Concepts Dodge & Cox GaveKal Endowment Limited Google 26
financials
2012 Financials As a global organization, we know that sound fiscal management, transparency and accountability are the responsibility of every member of our team. We have built a culture around these values that crosses borders and permeates every level of the organization. In 2012, we continued to focus on building a foundation for sustainable revenue growth. We also made strategic investments in our organizational capacity that will pave the way for future scale and success.
Financial Highlights
$40.3
million in cash donations
$2.8
83%
million in donations in-kind
spent on programs
Sources of Revenue by Region Europe
Americas
49%
Donations by Type of Investor
19% Middle East & Africa
3%
Asia & the Pacific
29%
Program Functional Expense Breakdown
Individual 63%
School Libraries 46%
Corporation 23%
School Construction 21%
Foundation 9%
Girls’ Education 16%
School & Other 5%
Reading & Writing Instruction 13% Book Publishing 4%
27
room to read annual report 2012
Statement of Activities
For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 (USD). Support and Revenue:
2012
2011
Corporation
$9,204,733
$9,238,776
Foundation
$3,867,878
$3,704,282
Individual
$25,285,323
$28,312,469
School and Other
$1,933,798
$988,193
Total Donations
$40,291,732
$42,243,720
Donations In-Kind
$2,784,397
$6,387,965
Investment and Other Income, Special Event Expenses, Fees
$180,131
$(342,048)
Total Support and Revenue
$43,256,260
$48,289,637
operating Expenses:
2012
2011
Library Establishment
$7,260,323
$8,506,055
Donated Books and Supplies
$4,259,626
$2,631,625
School Construction
$5,743,317
$5,111,854
Girls' Education
$2,724,477
$2,544,196
Book Publishing
$812,429
$691,103
Reading & Writing Instruction
$1,741,344
$1,305,372
Conferences, Travel and Meeting Costs
$2,430,187
$2,322,244
Information Technology Expenses
$848,457
$901,840
Monitoring & Evaluation
$940,608
$745,096
Professional Fees
$509,015
$864,313
Program Operating Expenses
$2,106,875
$2,060,738
Program Personnel Expenses
$12,508,038
$9,895,582
Total Program Services
$41,884,696
$37,580,018
Management and General
$2,653,069
$2,646,068
Fundraising
$5,551,692
$4,425,170
$ 50,089,457
$44,651,256
$(38,984)
$(298,868)
Change in Unrestricted Net Assets
$(5,644,289)
$(2,016,298)
Change in Temporarily Restricted Net Assets
$(1,227,892)
$5,355,811
Unrestricted Net Assets at Beginning of the Year
$3,303,690
$5,319,988
Temporarily Restricted Net Assets at Beginning of the Year
$21,058,214
$15,702,403
Net Assets at End of the Year
$17,489,723
$24,361,904
Program Services
Total Operating Expenses Translation Adjustments
Room to Read’s financial statements have been audited by independent certified public accountants and are available on our website. 28
board of directors, advisors & staff
Staff , Board of Directors & Advisors Management Team
Board of Directors
Erin Ganju, Co-Founder & CEO
John Wood (Board Co-Chair), Founder, Room to Read
Joanne Chou, Chief Financial Officer Lynn Foden, Chief of International Operations Dr. Cory Heyman, Chief Program Officer Dr. Geetha Murali, Chief Development Officer Pierre Towns, Chief Talent Officer
International Directors Jon Beaulieu, Asia Regional Director Unmesh Brahme, India Country Director Samantha Chuula, Zambia Country Director
Tim Koogle (Board Co-Chair), Former CEO, Yahoo! Yusuf Alireza, CEO, Noble Group Craig Bruya, Former CFO, Microsoft Business Solutions
Dr. Fernando Reimers, Director of Global Education and International Education Policy, Harvard University John Ridding, CEO, Financial Times
Emeritus Board Hilary Valentine (Board Chair), Partner, Black & White Design
Peter T. Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg L.P.
Chris Beer, Founding Member, Ironmark Law Group
Scott Kapnick, Managing Partner, Highbridge Capital Management
Alastair Mactaggart, President, Emerald Fund
Jerry del Missier, Former COO, Barclays Bank
Muneer Satter, Chairman, Satter Investment Management
Kim Anstatt Morton, Advisory Board member for 10 x 10 and San Francisco’s Edgewood ARTS
Jenny Shilling Stein, Executive Director, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
Zaki Hasan, Bangladesh Country Director Shevanthi Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka Country Director Kall Kann, Cambodia Country Director Tien Phong Le, Vietnam Country Director
A Special Thank You to Chris Beer As a member of our Board of Directors since 2004, as well as a key legal advisor, volunteer and supporter, Chris Beer has played an invaluable role in Room to
Christopher Mothupi, South Africa Country Director
Read’s creation and ongoing success. After serving three terms on the Board of
Theodory Mwalongo, Tanzania Country Director
newly formed Emeritus Board.
Ramesh Puri, Nepal Country Director
1999 until the creation of the organization’s first legal position in 2008. He was
Directors, Chris has fulfilled his commitment and will be transitioning onto the
Chris served as Room to Read’s primary legal and governance advisor from
Dinesh Shrestha, Co-Founder and Director of Field Operations
instrumental in creating a legal foundation from which Room to Read continues
Norkham Souphanouvong, Laos Country Director
“Books for Nepal” (the organization that later became Room to Read) and created
to benefit today. Among his myriad of legal contributions, Chris first incorporated our Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and worldwide legal structure.
Room to Read is immensely grateful for the unwavering commitment Chris has
shown for Room to Read’s mission and the countless hours he has spent sharing professional advice and expertise. We are truly honored that Chris will continue to contribute his legal acumen, passion and dedication through the Emeritus Board and remain an integral member of the Room to Read family.
Listing current as of June 2013. 29
room to read annual report 2012
Global Advisory Board
Robert and Karen Morrice
John Bothamley, Founder & Trustee, Four Acre Trust
Dr. Karen Mundy, Associate Dean of Research and Canada Research Chair for Global Governance and Educational Change, University of Toronto
Ernest Chow, Partner & Founder, Sensato Capital Management
Stasia Obremskey, Interim Chief Financial Officer, We Care Solar
Australia
Dr. Luis Crouch, Team Coordinator, Global Good Practices, Global Partnership for Education
Kavita N. Ramdas, Representative for India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Ford Foundation
Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes
Rob Flaherty, Senior Partner, President & Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum
M.R. Rangaswami, Co-Founder, Sand Hill Group LLC
Dhir Jhingran, National Coordinator for the Right to Education, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, India
Dr. Carol Knuth Sakoian, Vice President, International Business Development, Scholastic International
Susan Lodge, Real Estate Agent for Sotheby’s International Realty and Co-leader of the Room to Read Aspen Chapter Addy Loudiadis, Partner, Goldman Sachs Melissa J. Ma, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Asia Alternatives Management LLC
Tim Wood, Director, Mobile Health Innovation, Grameen Foundation Melody Zavala, Director, Books for Asia, The Asia Foundation Steve W. Zimmerman, Vice President, Social Innovations, Mercy Corps
Zoltan and Tamara Varga
Raymond and Kaori Zage
Steve and Carrie Bellotti
Brett and Zahra Godfrey
Mike and Cynthia Whelan
New York Mary Byron
Peter T. Grauer Scott Kapnick
Jaideep Khanna
Stephen and Jane King
John and Dudley Macfarlane
David and Jacqueline Martin Aaron Nieman
Eric and Shauna Varvel
Regional Boards
United Kingdom
Patte McDowell, Founder & Board Chair, Cloud 9 Foundation
Asia Pacific
Kevin and Alisa Burke
Arul Menezes, Principal Software Architect, Microsoft Research
Yusuf Alireza and Dina Khreino-Alireza
Dr. Shirley Miske, President & Senior Consultant, Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Osama and Lara Abbasi Daniel and Daun Dees
L. Brooks and Laura Entwistle
Carl Huttenlocher and Tamiko M. Lippit Graham Porter and Wendy Leung
Annalisa Burello Marisa Drew
Martyn Gowar
Doug Henderson Sindhu Horder Scott Mead
John Ridding Randy Work
Design: Melanie Doherty Design. Photography: Front cover: Manisone Philathvong; pg 3, 9: Anne Holmes; pg 5: Ian Murphy; pg 7, 13: www.ThePositiveStory.com; pg 11: Peter Stuckings; pg 15: Nguyen Minh Duc; pg 17, 25: Varun Chaudhury; pg 19: 10x10 Educate Girls. Change the World.; back cover: Annalisa Burello.
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Room to Read Global Office 111 Sutter Street, Floor 16 San Francisco, CA 94104 USA Hong Kong • London • Mumbai New York • Sydney • Tokyo www.roomtoread.org
World Change Starts with Educated Children.® Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond. We would like to thank the following companies for sharing their office space with Room to Read: Credit Suisse (London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo), C12 Capital Management (New York), Reliance Capital (India).