Launched in 2011, GBA member All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) is a partnership of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision and the Australian Government that advances EdTech innovation and research to improve reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts.
Imagine not being able to read. Looking at text and not knowing what it says. Not recognizing the letter or the sounds. What if it’s important information about how to take your medicine? Or when the next bus comes? Or where to find a hospital?
The World Bank recently reported that 70% of 10-year-olds in low and middle-income countries are unable to read a simple written text. Around the world, 584 million children in low-resource countries can’t read (or write). We’re facing a global crisis in learning. According to the World Bank’s 2021 report, The State of the Global Education Crisis, more than 50% of all children globally will not achieve the minimum reading skills by the time they complete primary school. Without new solutions, we risk leaving millions of children behind.
All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development develops, implements, and scales game-changing EdTech solutions and tools to bring the gift of reading to children waiting to learn to read. As a partner in the Global Book Alliance, All Children Reading shares the vision of a world where all children have access to quality books that they can use to learn to read, read to learn, and develop a love of reading.
We believe education in the 21st century must leverage innovation and technology to make this happen–innovations like digital books and learning materials, which can increase availability, access, and use while also strengthening the supply of reading materials in areas where books and libraries are non-existent, where they are too expensive to print or in remote areas where they are to difficult to distribute.
As a partnership between USAID, World Vision US, and the Australian Government, All Children Reading acts as a sandbox for innovation. We absorb the risk of research and development for EdTech solutions to increase literacy by funding innovators to develop new open-source solutions in reading–like digital books and digital libraries–then we test their impact and help bring successful solutions to scale to reach more children.
- Sergio Ramirez-Mena, Chief of Party, All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development
Watch the GBA Partner Spotlight for All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development, to learn how ACR GCD is working to close the book gap.