774 million youth & adults across the world are illiterate, and 250 million children lack basic reading/writing skills. Books are needed for the development of literacy skills, yet 50% of schools in Africa have few or no books & over 200 million children live in areas where printed books are non-existent or expensive. In W. Africa, only 4% of children under 5 have 3 or more children’s books at home, limiting their ability to gain foundational early reading skills needed to succeed in school/life

Worldreader’s strategy is to improve access to relevant reading materials by building & curating the world’s largest culturally-relevant digital library & making that library available through institutional digital reading programs. The increasing affordability of ICT devices, the simplified logistics of delivering digital books, and the low cost of digital books relative to paper books make digital reading a sustainable, cost-effective strategy to deliver reading materials to poor settings.