Publications

This paper was written for the 5th IBBY Africa Regional Meeting, which was held 29 August-1 September 2019 in Accra, Ghana. The conference took as its theme: the importance of illustrations in children’s books.

In this paper, we focus on storybooks that children read for enjoyment because of their positive impact on academic success and also because these stories underpin the sustainability of a viable reading culture. We explore the role of content, illustrations, communities, and language in giving children stories in which they can recognize themselves. In addition, because appropriate stories and illustrations require sustainable story creation ecosystems, we also explore the capacity building necessary and the costs involved for both African commercial publishers and community story production. Commercial publishers may have different cost drivers and expenses from the NGOs that help local communities write their own stories in their own languages. The paper also assesses the benefits and challenges entailed in open licensing, which donors, such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), now require in grants and contracts. Open licensing can impact deleteriously on cost recovery and income unless all members of the publishing ecosystem understand its principles. Careful consideration of its ramifications is therefore necessary to ensure that costs are fairly and fully covered.

In 2015, NBA received a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to explore the potential for open licensing in enhancing the availability of mother-tongue early-literacy reading resources in the developing world. This research covered the impact of open licensing on the early reader ecosystem, emerging innovations, and the implications for the supply and use of early literacy reading materials in low income countries. In late 2016, NBA received a follow-on grant to continue this work and carry out both desk case studies and action research in a few countries. The work being carried out by NBA complements the Global Book Alliance (GBA), which is led by the US Agency for International Development and other donors. The GBA is a multi-stakeholder, international effort to transform book development, procurement, distribution and usage to get books for more children, through new solutions and innovations.

As part of the NBA grant, this workshop brought together key players in the field as part of the process, to create a forum for key players in early literacy from the global South to exchange ideas and develop a shared action research agenda for open licensing in early literacy.

Open Licensing and Publishing in Africa: What is open licensing and why is it topical to authors, publishers and illustrators? This presentation was created for the Association for the Development in Africa (ADEA) and Global Book Alliance Seminar on Open Licensing in Accra, Ghana on 2 September, 2018.

With funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and as part of its work on the early literacy ecosystem and open licensing, Neil Butcher & Associates (NBA) convened a small workshop, which brought together key players in early literacy in Africa. Participants, who came from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, represented commercial publishers, NGOs, and other stakeholders working in the early literacy field.

A list of participants and the agenda, including the workshop objectives, can be found at the end of this report. 

Pragmatic Approaches to Open Licensing: Is revenue generation possible? This presentation was created for the Association for the Development in Africa (ADEA) and Global Book Alliance Seminar on Open Licensing in Accra, Ghana on 2 September, 2018.