The tremendous challenges our country is up against will only be further aggravated by our dismal literacy rates. With the vast majority of children in Grade 4 unable to read for meaning, how will this next generation, bubbling up arduously through a stretched schooling system (40% of them never making it), cope with adulthood? What capabilities will they bring into the work force? How will they participate in society? Will they teach their own children how to read?

Each child has the potential to do something magical with their lives, but they require a solid foundation to start them on their journey of success. It’s well established by now that interventions in education are most effective when they take place in the early years. Sharing books and stories with young children stokes their wild imaginations, profound curiosity and hunger to learn new things, and grows within them the desire to want to read more. And taking these simple actions is increasingly within reach of all caregivers.

At Nal’ibali we poured our energies into three key focal areas in 2019: bolstering the quality of support to our network, converting the high number of interactions we have with the public into people actually reading to children, and strengthening our advocacy and collaboration efforts. This annual report will show you that these strategic efforts were well conceived and executed; that we learned a lot in the process; and that the momentum of the Nal’ibali reading for enjoyment campaign is building.

As an indication, thanks to the commitment of our growing network of 23,000 literacy activists (FUNda Leaders) and our energetic fellow Nal’ibalians, almost 160,000 children became members of Nal’ibali reading clubs in 2019, and 1.2 million people shared the same story on World Read Aloud Day. Our distribution partners helped us get 5.2 million bilingual newsprint story supplements (with 15.6 million stories) in 8 languages and 104,000 storybooks out to children all across the nation. Through a points-based system, our one-of-a-kind FUNda Sonke mobile app, launched this year, has nudged 2,600 people to become more informed and active reading champions.

It’s important to take stock and celebrate progress. We are getting there! But, truthfully, not fast enough. There’s still so much work to be done. We live in one of the most unequal countries on the planet. A growing reading culture offers growing hope that we can rebalance society to one where all children might reach their potential.

In closing, after nearly 5 years I am pleased to hand the task of guiding this indomitable movement over to Yandiswa Xhakaza, Nal’ibali’s bright and bold new CEO. Thank you to my vivacious team, our devoted board of trustees, and the funders and partners who have linked arms with me over the years in driving the vision of a reading nation. FUNda Forward!

Jade Jacobsohn
Managing Director, Nal’ibali (2015-2019)