Publication: South Africa - Results-Based Financing and the Book Supply Chain: Motivating Writers and Publishers to Create Quality Storybooks
Date
2019-12
ISSN
Published
2019-12
Author(s)
World Bank Group
Abstract
Literacy serves as an essential building
block for learning, so when children master reading, they
are more likely to succeed in school generally. To support
the South African government’s campaign to improve literacy
rates and foster a love of reading among children, room to
read implemented an initiative that included results-based
elements to increase the availability of affordable, quality
storybooks in African languages. The project brought
together public and private sector players in the book
supply chain to develop new national standards on storybooks
and translations, and helped to identify and build capacity
of smaller publishers and writers to publish
African-language storybooks. In doing so, the project
demonstrated how results-based financing can be effective in
the production and procurement stages of the book chain in
South Africa. Results-based financing motivated and engaged
publishers and writers to participate and stay engaged in
the two-year project, which armed them with the skills and
knowledge they need to continue to create and publish
quality storybooks on their own. The success of the South
Africa project underscores the potential of using innovative
models such as pooled procurement, open licensing, and one
day one book workshops along with results-based financing to
increase the availability of quality children’s books in a
cost-efficient manner. By strengthening the book chain, the
project ultimately helped to foster children’s love of
reading and helped them to become better learners.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2019. South Africa - Results-Based Financing and the Book Supply Chain: Motivating Writers and Publishers to Create Quality Storybooks. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33135 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”