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This Guidance Note is designed to support government and World Bank teams in preparing accurate and complete bidding documents for books, evaluating proposals, and awarding contracts.

Access to books (textbooks, teacher’s guides, and materials for reading practice) is key to addressing learning poverty. Children need to be exposed to sufficient and appropriate text, and they need to be afforded the time and opportunity to practice reading in school and at home. Appropriate design of reading books will facilitate learning, support instruction, and promote independent learning.

Education projects funded by The World Bank procure textbooks and other teaching and learning materials through national and international tenders (bids). Documents for the tenders describe the purposes of the procurement, the qualification requirements for potential bidders, and the technical specifications of the education materials to be procured.

The World Bank’s Read@Home initiative is an unprecedented effort to get reading, learning, and play materials into homes to address the learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread, pre-existing "learning poverty". Connected to the distribution and use of these materials is the question of copyright.

This Guidance Note was created for the Read@Home project to help writers, illustrators, and designers create books for young children to share with their families at home. Of course, such books may be used in schools as well. In either case, these will be enjoyable books that children will want to read, so they will learn to love reading and develop the life-long habit of reading.  

The Incoterms rules have become an essential part of the daily language of trade.

This Guide to Open Licensing in World Bank Projects provides an explanation of open licensing and how to use it in World Bank and other development projects to increase access to high-quality teaching and learning materials, including textbooks and storybooks.

La plupart des salles de classe des pays à faible revenu manquent de ressources pédagogiques, malgré les investissements substantiels dans les manuels scolaires et autres matériels d'enseignement et d'apprentissage sur plusieurs décennies.

This note outlines the World Bank’s Read@Home initiative’s recommendations for a “first collection” of children’s
literature. It is intended for Read@Home and other early reading programs involved in the development and/or
selection of books to support children’s pre-reading and early reading skills.

This report is a brief introduction to the Republic of the Marshall Islands Book Supply Chain, focusing for practical reasons on the National capital, Majuro. The initiative began through the lens of human rights and particularly a child’s right to literacy in a language they understand. It was sparked by the lack of children’s books in the Marshall Islands.

Openly licensed resources are ‘free’ to access, but there are significant creation, adaptation, production, and use costs. The long-term sustainability of local-language publishing requires that these costs be met fairly, using financial models that will enable people to establish, grow, and maintain effective content creation organizations.

Openly licensed resources are ‘free’ to access, but there can be significant user, creation, adaptation, and production costs. The long-term sustainability of African publishing in local languages requires that these costs be met fairly and completely, using models that will encourage people to establish, grow, and sustain excellent content creation organizations.

Restrictive copyrights can limit how likely reading resources are to be used, shared or repurposed, which significantly diminishes the potential impact of the materials.  Donors and international organizations are increasingly investing in open educational resources, as they are interested in ensuring that educational materials reach the greatest possible number of learners, and that broad access to those material

As schools in Uganda closed down in late March 2020 due to Covid-19, Mango Tree Literacy Lab (MTLL) had to reconsider its 2020 work plan.

This updated primer discusses challenges and issues faced by content creators, such as publishers, authors, illustrators, and teachers, all of whom have a stake in producing high-quality and cost-effective materials for education. This version includes lessons learned from the COVID-19 lockdowns, technology challenges that still impede access to digital content, and the tradeoffs between digital access and print.

In recent years, several textbook distribution and track and trace systems have been piloted to assist local supply systems in ensuring that education materials reach schools at the last mile. Through this World Bank-funded initiative, John Snow, Inc. (JSI) and subcontractor World Education, Inc.

Ces dernières années, plusieurs systèmes de distribution et de suivi des manuels scolaires ont été mis à l'essai pour aider les systèmes d'approvisionnement locaux à garantir que le matériel pédagogique parvienne aux écoles jusqu'au dernier kilomètre. Dans le cadre de cette initiative financée par la Banque mondiale, John Snow, Inc. (JSI) et son sous-traitant World Education, Inc.

In recent years, several textbook distribution and track and trace systems have been piloted to assist local supply systems in ensuring that education materials reach schools at the last mile. Through this World Bank-funded initiative, John Snow, Inc. (JSI) and subcontractor World Education, Inc.

Ces dernières années, plusieurs systèmes de distribution et de suivi des manuels scolaires ont été mis à l'essai pour aider les systèmes d'approvisionnement locaux à garantir que le matériel pédagogique parvienne aux écoles jusqu'au dernier kilomètre. Dans le cadre de cette initiative financée par la Banque mondiale, John Snow, Inc. (JSI) et son sous-traitant World Education, Inc.

In recent years, several textbook distribution and track and trace systems have been piloted to assist local supply systems in ensuring that education materials reach schools at the last mile. Through this World Bank-funded initiative, John Snow, Inc. (JSI) and subcontractor World Education, Inc.

Ces dernières années, plusieurs systèmes de distribution et de suivi des manuels scolaires ont été mis à l'essai pour aider les systèmes d'approvisionnement locaux à garantir que le matériel pédagogique parvienne aux écoles jusqu'au dernier kilomètre. Dans le cadre de cette initiative financée par la Banque mondiale, John Snow, Inc. (JSI) et son sous-traitant World Education, Inc.

The Enhancing Caregiver and Community Support for Children’s Reading Development Outside of School report provides evidence-based interventions that engage caregivers and community members to support children’s reading development outside of school. Some interventions work directly with caregivers in their home, while others use community spaces to promote reading skills. 

The Impact of Open Licensing on the Early Reader Ecosystem examines how to use open licensing to promote quality learning resources for young children that are relevant and interesting.