A young student looking at books in a school library, Kenya.
Commonwealth publications are among most popular in recent survey
18 May 2009
Every year 600 copies of Secretariat titles are among over 6,000 books sent to Sub-Saharan Africa as part of a project with Book Aid International
Every year the Commonwealth Secretariat sends 100 copies of each relevant newly published title to libraries across Sub-Saharan Africa and Palestine through the ‘Books for Development’ project run by Book Aid International.
These books, which cover topics including HIV/AIDS, gender and education, go to library users in 12 African countries, seven of which are members of the Commonwealth.
Last year, 41 organisations received 6,645 books as part of the project, which the Secretariat has been involved with for the past two years. Other partners include Oxfam Publishing and the Overseas Development Institute.
Book Aid International
Book Aid International is an independent, international NGO, which supports literacy, education and development in Sub-Saharan Africa by distributing around half-a-million books every year.
A survey was recently conducted to evaluate the popularity of these donated books. Those surveyed were asked to highlight three of the books they found useful.
Of the 200 surveyed books several Commonwealth Secretariat gender publications emerged among the most popular titles.
According to the Council for Non-governmental Organisations in Malawi, gender training facilitators and activists have been using the Secretariat’s Gender and Trade Action Guide to develop training manuals in gender issues.
The title ‘Mainstreaming Gender in Social Protection for the Informal Economy’ helped the Forum for Women in Democracy analyse gender and poverty so it could contribute ideas for engendering the National Development Plan to eradicate poverty in Uganda.
HakiElimu’s Policy Analysis and Advocacy Unit is using the Secretariat’s ‘Gender in primary and secondary education: a handbook for policy-makers and other stakeholders’ to learn about education so that they can work with policy-makers at a higher government level.
The Secretariat’s Publications Manager, Guy Bentham, said: “Titles from the Gender Section have been frequently selected for inclusion, which is a tribute to the relevance of the publications activities of this part of the Secretariat to the concerns of citizens and governments in Commonwealth developing countries.”
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