Ethiopia: Building bridges to learning, one book at a time

Reading is more than just a skill; it's a gateway to a world of imagination and understanding. For children, it opens doors to new ideas, cultures, and perspectives, nurturing their curiosity and creativity.

Learning to read is a challenging and complex process for all children which requires significant support and practice. Children who grow up being read to regularly are at a clear advantage: one study of families across 35 countries, for example, found that having at least one children’s book at home almost doubles the likelihood that children will be on track in literacy and numeracy. 

During emergencies, it's easy to overlook the importance of education and books for children, yet these are the very things that can make a world of difference, especially when times are tough. In these challenging moments, reading becomes even more essential.  It offers a sense of normalcy and comfort, helping children cope with uncertainty, build resilience, and develop the tools to thrive and hope for a better future.

Recently, COVID-19 and various conflicts in Ethiopia have significantly disrupted educational access, leaving children without vital resources and support for reading during a critical period in their development. To address this challenge, a Read@Home pilot program launched by the World Bank in early 2024 is helping to build a bridge back to learning for over 26,000 families in conflict-affected areas.

To celebrate this year’s International Literacy Day, we are highlighting how the program in Ethiopia is expanding children’s access to books through supporting caregivers to read with their children, as well as creating a supportive environment where learning can flourish even in the most difficult circumstances.

Reaching families with books and support

The Read@Home program is one of a series of key interventions to ensure a smooth return to schooling and increase children’s exposure to books and reading activities from an early age.  The pilot builds on a previous effort that delivered 45,000 books to displaced families in Ethiopia in 2021. It is now scaling the approach to reach over 26,000 families with 80,000 storybooks and support for caregivers in five areas of the country affected by conflict – Afar, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia and Tigray. 

There are three components to the pilot in Ethiopia:

1. Reaching families in conflict-affected areas with storybooks. Books are safe spaces and a doorway to ideas and new worlds. When children have the opportunity to read books in a language they understand, they learn to read better and faster. For that reason, Read@Home Ethiopia partnered with NGO Ethiopia Reads to print and distribute storybooks in six Ethiopian languages. In collaboration with the country’s five regional education bureaus, children’s storybooks in Afan Oromo, Amharic, Tigrigna, Afar, Shinasha and Gumuz languages were selected for the pilot for their suitability for engaging families of children aged 0-5 in reading activities, including parents and caregivers with low literacy levels. 
2. Empowering families to read with their children. Learning to read starts in the home, long before children reach school age, and continues as children grow. Parental involvement is vital for bringing books to life and ensuring children have enough exposure to books and practice to become readers. Facilitators within each region, including teachers, education supervisors and heads of district (woreda) education offices were selected and trained on strategies to engage caregivers with children’s reading activities. Facilitators then delivered sessions for parents, engaging over 26,000 caregivers through an orientation session and small group follow-ups to provide flexible and personalized touchpoints that maximized parents’ participation and enabled them to balance attending sessions with family and work responsibilities.
3. Strong and responsive collaboration. Partnerships at every step were key to the pilot’s success. Guidance from the Ministry of Education was instrumental in designing the intervention, and close collaboration with the five regional education bureaus meant suitable storybooks could be selected and adapted swiftly. Flexible, adaptable, implementation from Ethiopia Reads allowed the pilot to respond to fast-changing security situations and create positive experiences of reading for participating families.

Paving the way to more stories and better futures

The Read@Home approach is already yielding promising results in Ethiopia. A recent evaluation of the pilot found improvements in both children’s engagement in literacy activities and caregivers’ engagement in promoting children’s literacy activities at home were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to families in the control group.  The pilot has so far catalyzed further investment through the Response – Recovery – Resilience for Conflict-Affected Communities in Ethiopia Project, which has invested in the development and delivery of storybooks to children affected by conflict.

All children deserve to benefit from the power of books.  Expanding opportunities to read for all children is essential if we are to end learning poverty and equip children with the skills they need to succeed.